Northshore po-boy restaurant opens West Lee location

Bear’s Grill and Spirits has opened its first Baton Rouge restaurant on West Lee Drive. Matt Watson, one of the owners of Bear’s, says the restaurant has taken over the kitchen side of Sangria Bar & Grill. Sangria’s owners will continue to run the restaurant’s bar, Watson says. Bear’s, which is known for its roast beef po-boys, had been looking to open a Baton Rouge location for a couple of years, Watson says. “This was a friend of a friend-type deal,” he says. The chain has locations in Covington, Mandeville and Slidell. The new restaurant opened today with a limited menu of po-boys and hamburgers; Watson says the full menu will be implemented soon. “We’ve only been in here for a week and a half. That’s not long to set up a full menu,” he says. “We want to get the staff acclimated to things before they get too busy.”—Timothy Boone