re: Things to do and see in Baton Rouge?

Here's my incomplete guide to eating and drinking in the city:

Baton Rouge is home to so much good food, but if I had to pick one restaurant in the area that should be sought out if at all possible is Roberto's River Road Restaurant. It's a little bit of a drive, though, as it is well south of the city, but it's an absolute treasure.

Some other very good restaurants in the city:
The Chimes/Parrain's (owned by the same people, both outstanding)

Pinetta's (great old school Italian place, their red sauce is to die for)

Louisiana Lagniappe (probably the best seafood joint in the city)

Ruffino's (Italian, creole, steaks, all awesome, try the Crawfish Cheesecake as an app)

Gino's (outstanding old school Italian)

The Overpass Merchant (small menu, but all well executed)

Jolie Pearl Oyster Bar (downtown with the best selection of oysters around and often live music)

Juban's (Italian/Creole/Cajun/Seafood all done excellent, try the Hallelujah Crab)

Traditional Baton Rouge haunts (not too pricy, but not super cheap)
Sammy's (seafood and po'boys with a large enough menu to please everyone, but often very crowded)

Spanish Town Grocery (downtown old school plate lunch spot with good burgers and po'boys)

Po'Boy Loyds (downtown, old school place, not the best, but one of the oldest spots in town with unique atmosphere)

Fleur de lis (thin, soft crust pizza, been around forever, CASH ONLY)

George's (po'boy's and sandwiches plus a bar)

The Pastime (pizza, po'boys, and calzones downtown, I'd stick to the calzones)

Louie's (LSU institution for late night burgers and breakfast food)

Mason's (Giant hamburgers and brunch on sundays)

Bud's Broiler (a New Orleans institution, cheap and open late, returning to Baton Rouge this fall just south of LSU, charcoal grilled hamburgers, get the #4 with smoked sauce and cheddar cheese)* Still not open yet, but there are two Bud's stands in Tiger Stadium, one on the West Side, lower bowl, third level near the 20 yard line; and one on the north side, lower bowl, right behind the goal.

Tony's Seafood (The seafood market and to-go spot that launched the Louisiana Fish Fry Empire)

Izzo's Illegal Burrito (Ginormous burritos, chain started at LSU, like a better version of Chipotle that won't give you e coli).

Raul's (greasy burger right outside the north gate of campus)

Po'boy TImes (highly underrated po'boy shop right outside the North Gate of LSU)

The Jambalaya Shoppe (while not the best jambalaya possible, it's certainly the most convenient with locations all over town, some for both lunch and dinner, try the gumbolaya)

Dempsey's (great gumbo and po'boys)

If you want the best cheap hole-in-the-wall joints:
La Morenita (Mexican grocery store with the best $2 tacos on earth)

The Chicken Shack (hard to beat the Big Shack Sandwich or the fish sandwich for under $3)

Belue's (great plate lunch/style place featuring the Turduken Po'boy, hogs head cheese, and all kinds of cajun/soul food awesomeness)
Jerry Lee's Boudin (home of the best Hogs Head Cheese around)

Bergeron's in Port Allen (great cajun food in the restaurant and fantastic bbq, smoked boudin, and pistolettes on the meat market side)

Ronnie's Boudin (best boudin, boudin balls, and cracklins this side of the basin bridge)

Capital City Crawfish (most underrated po'boy and seafood market in town)

American Market (sandwich shop south of LSU where you can get a 14" sub with chips and a drink for under $7. Get the Cajun Turkey)

Inga's (sandwich shop with 2 locations, one south of LSU and one on Chimes Street by the North Gate. Similar to American Market but with more options (salads, more toppings, stir fry bowls) and slightly higher prices. Cajun Turkey is awesome here too. Their steak sandwich is also outstanding)

Smokin' Aces (little BBQ stand with great ribs, mac n cheese, and BBQ sauce)

newer "hip" places:
Magpie Cafe
City Pork
BRQ
LIT Pizza (pick your own toppings pizza)
Cocha
Curbside Burgers (awesome burgers)
Ruby Slipper (brunch)
Twine
Simple Joe's Cafe
South Fin Poke

Outstanding Asian Food:
Dang's (Pho)
Albasha's (Best Baton Rouge Lebanese food)
Thai Pepper (buffet at lunch, sit down restaurant at night, been around forever, always solid. DON'T GET THE SPICY unless you can REALLY tolerate heat! Stick to the medium)
Tsunami (sushi with unbeatable view)
Sushi Masa (All-you-can-eat Sushi that's made to order)
Kamado & Golden Dragon (similar set up to Sushi Masa)
Sushi Yama (best sushi in town)
Omi (authentic, unique, and outstanding Chinese Food)
La Salvadorena (authentic Salvadorian Cuisine just outside the north gates of campus)

Now, for the bars:

You have 4 main areas for bars in the city:
Campus (Northgate/Tigerland), Perkins Road (Overpass/Southdowns), Downtown, and Other.

On the north side, the bars have pretty slim pickings outside of The Varsity (live music venue), The Chimes (outstanding beer selection and food), Bleachers (ok sports bar with $6 burgers), and Barcadia (arcade with ok food).

Immediately south of campus is Walk-On's, which is convenient with decent food and cover bands before and after games. Going down Burbank is also Mellow Mushroom (good pizza and drinks) and Bogie's (really good college bar). Across Nicholson Drive is Tigerland, home to sleazy college bars The Box (cover bands), Mike's (free drinks on Fridays), Reggie's (for underage kids), JL's, and Fred's (for the 21+ frat crowd).

Perkins Road Overpass has some great bars including:
The Merchant and Georges (already mentioned), Duvic's, and Ivar's. All of these bars are 21+ and are much nicer than the college bars. There's also Zippy's for burritos and margaritas.

Southdowns is home to Uncle Earl's (great patio) and the Bulldog (beer bar with really nice patio) as well as Red Zeppelin (arguably best pizza in town)

Downtown has most of its bars centered around 3rd street including: Jolie Pearl (oysters), The Roux House (cover bands and a nive patio), Boudreaux & Thibodaux's (cover bands downstairs and acoustic sets on the balcony upstairs), Lava Cantina (cover bands and overpriced mediocre Mexican food), Happy's Irish Pub (school girl costumed waitresses and cover bands on the stage outside in the courtyard), Huey's (cocktails and occasional jazz bands), The Blues Room (blues and soul music), Club 1913 (attempt at an exclusive night club), and City Bar (basically the Jersey Shore in Baton Rouge)

There's a whole lot of randomly located bars around BR, but here are the highlights:
Tin Roof (brewery off Nicholson Drive between Downtown and LSU. Often have food trucks and/or bands)

The Cove/Corporate Brew & Draft (CBD) (these bars are next to each other in Citiplace off of Corporate Drive. They feature the best beer and hard liquor selections in town. You can also bring outside food into CBD. There's also Port Royal next door to the Waffle House which serves some of the "clearance" beers from CBD & Cove)

Phil Brady's (old man bar, irish pub featuring blues music most nights and a big blues jam open mic on thursday nights)

Radio Bar (Hipster bar with great cocktails (I recommend the Sazerac) and a patio and food trucks at night)

The Spanish Moon (original live music venue between downtown and LSU along Highland Road)

The Atomic Pop Shop (record store by day, BYOB original live music venue by night, next door to radio bar)

Finally, there's a really interesting historic Blues Bar in Zachary called Teddy's Juke Joint. It's about as authentic a delta blues experience as one can find in the South.

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Hiking the Port Hudson battlefield is the most overlooked activity in Baton Rouge. Especially this time of the year.

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My son ran cross country races out there, beautiful place and a huge siege with land and naval battles that didnt get the pub Vicksburg did.

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Cancel the trip. Literally the only worst cities in America are Detroit and Newark.

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Somebody hasn't seen Jackson, Mississippi of late.

Goto the game then drive into nola for the night.

I'll second Rural Life Museum off of Essen.

Jackson is worse than Detroit

I'll take your word for it.

Sunday is Capitol City Beer Fest. If you're willing to pay money for a ticket, there's a lot of craft beer vendors from the area that you can sample.

LINK