Galatoire’s delays opening of new Baton Rouge bistro

The much-anticipated opening of Galatoire’s Bistro, which was supposed to take place in time for the holiday season, has been delayed. The restaurant’s opening is now slated for sometime in January. Restaurant management attributes the delay to “challenges with construction of the parking lot” in the Acadian Village shopping center, where the restaurant is being built. “The contractors were not able to get as much site work done as quickly as they’d hoped due to all the rain we had six or eight weeks ago,” says Melvin Rodrigue, president and COO of Galatoire’s in New Orleans. “It is the parking lot for the entire development, so all of the parking is tied to the phase of construction we are in.” The white brick building, designed to resemble the flagship restaurant in the French Quarter, is almost complete, according to Rodrigue, who says it will likely be turned over to the owners sometime next week. “We would have loved to have gotten the holiday crowds,” he says. “But it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to open on top of Christmas. If we could have been ready in early December, that would have been a different story.” Officials with Commercial Properties Realty Trust, which owns the development, did not return a call for comment in time for publication this morning. —Stephanie Riegel