New Orleans-area restaurant to open downtown location

Another New Orleans-area restaurant operator has plans to open a Baton Rouge location. Wags on the Levee is scheduled to open on Third Street by June 15. It’s the local version of Wags Food & Culture, a 16-year-old Marrero eatery. Wags will specialize in “Southern classic” dishes, such as gumbo, fried seafood, crawfish cornbread and stuffed bell peppers, says Colleen Collins, who owns and manages the restaurant along with her fiancee, Nishen Palmer. “Downtown Baton Rouge is growing, and we figure we could bring some good food down there,” says Collins. Plans are for Wags to be open for lunch and dinner until 11 p.m. during the week and until 2:30 a.m. on weekends. The restaurant plans to add a Sunday brunch by August. The restaurant will open in the same space that has been occupied by several eateries in the past few years, including Miller’s, New York Bagel and Café Asia.—Timothy Boone