After almost two years of running Cordon Rouge Bistro virtually on her own—with work days extending as long as 21 hours at times—owner and chef Rhonda Crosswhite has decided it’s time to expand. The local bistro and bakery, which until a few weeks ago operated out of a 500-square-foot space inside The Courtyard Gifts & Interiors on Arnold Lane, is moving to a 2,400-square-foot parcel downtown at 334 Third St.
“You couldn’t get two cooks in the kitchen there at The Courtyard, which was really becoming a problem,” Crosswhite says, adding she’s looking forward to hiring some help, as well as expanding the menu. “We’re going to expand the menu a little and have a liquor license.”
Crosswhite originally wanted to move Cordon Rouge to the Perkins Road overpass area, but says she is excited to take advantage of the downtown location—which local investor Kerry Denny purchased last March—and expand her customer base.
“Being downtown with all the offices and courthouse, we’ll be able to offer delivery,” she says. “It’s a big step for me, but I think it’s a good one.”
Cordon Rouge will continue to focus on bakery and lunch items for now—which include homemade, buttered croissants—but Crosswhite says dinner will be coming in the future. She has a few renovations to make, as the space formerly housed Lokka Medical Spa, but Crosswhite aims for a spring opening.
Denny first announced the arrival of Cordon Rouge to 334 Third St., the second floor of which he and his wife Sheila have renovated into a personal vacation home, at the Downtown Development District meeting this morning.
Also at this morning’s DDD meeting, Michael Lang—the development manager of the Commerce Building’s redevelopment—announced that financing for the project has been secured, in part through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 221 (d) (4) program, making the project the first downtown development to receive such funding.
“I really think it speaks to the momentum downtown Baton Rouge has and all of these huge projects,” Lang says, adding he expects construction to begin by the middle of the year.
