With each grand opening, beer dinner and pork-themed confection, the City Pork brand has generated more buzz in Baton Rouge, and now the restaurant is poised to make its national television debut.
As 225 Dine reports, City Pork was approached in late 2015 to appear on Food Network’s cross-country restaurant hunt Burgers, Brew & ‘Cue. The episode will kick off Burgers, Brew & ‘Cue’s new season Jan. 15 at 9:30 p.m.
“It was just fascinating,” owner Stephen Hightower says of the filming process. “You can’t imagine how much goes into it. They brought 20 people on their crew, then we brought in two chefs … They filmed for five and a half hours, and it’ll end up being 10 minutes of the show.”
Food Network chef and host of the show Michael Symon visited the restaurant for filming in December, along with Ace of Cakes star Duff Goldman, a special guest for the season premiere. The pair sampled City Pork Brasserie & Bar’s pork belly hoagie and wild boar flautas.
“It’s a genuine celebration—a celebration of what Chef Ryan André has accomplished in that restaurant. To be able to be on Food Network, you work a long time to be honored like that,” Hightower says. “And it’s a celebration for the Baton Rouge culinary scene turning a corner. There’s just no question that the level of [chefs] in our town now and the level of food that so many independent restaurateurs are working hard to accomplish is really great.”
City Pork Brasserie & Bar, 7327 Jefferson Highway, will host a viewing party tonight from 9 to midnight. Make sure you get your fill of local culinary news every week by signing up for the free 225 Dine e-newsletter.
