Chimes expands into Covington

The Chimes, the longtime LSU tavern, plans to open a location just outside Covington on U.S. Highway 190 by fall 2010, the Baton Rouge Business Report reports. Tim Hood, who co-owns the restaurant, says a 7.3-acre site has been purchased for the restaurant. “There are some opportunities for decks and walkways on the site,” he says. “It’s a distinctive property.” Plans are to build a Chimes Covington from the ground up. The core menu of the Covington location will be the same as The Chimes at LSU’s North Gates and the Coursey Boulevard restaurant, and there will be at least 50 draft beers on tap. “We look at The Chimes as a neighborhood tavern, so we’ll customize it to the clientele,” Hood says. “That may mean our Covington location is slightly more upscale or has different specials or whatever.” Hood says he grew up camping and waterskiing around Covington. “That area has had a lot of growth since Katrina, and there’s no one on the Northshore that does anything exactly like or even close to what we do,” he says. The Chimes won’t be Hood’s only business in Covington; there are two existing buildings on the lot where the restaurant/bar is going up. “The plan is to bring one of those existing buildings back into commerce,” Hood says. Work won’t start on the second building until The Chimes Covington opens, and it’s too soon to say what will happen to the property, Hood says. —Timothy Boone