With the looming recession, most people are eating out less. Yet, each week it seems a new restaurant opens its doors in East Baton Rouge Parish, whose population isn’t increasing any time soon. Louis DeAngelo Jr. estimates 4,500 new restaurant seats the city, which is hurting local restaurateurs who are committed quality ingredients, even as commodity prices are rising. “This economic drama is not helping,” he says. “Between that, the competition and what’s going on in Washington, it definitely has people thinking what is value for their money, value for their experience.”
Also in this week’s 225 Dine, several restaurants prepare special lunch menus for Mother’s Day, John Hopper buys back Podnuh’s Bar-B-Q, and Gio’s Mezza Luna is now open for lunch. Find out what dish Eric Lewis of the Baton Rouge Black Chamber of Commerce is obsessed about by clicking here.
