Without a doubt, Mike Anderson will go down among the all-time greatest in LSU football history, says James “Pepper” Rutland, who played alongside Anderson in the late 1960s.
“He was one of the best teammates I had,” Rutland recalls. “Mike exemplified all that was good about LSU athletics. He had a great reputation, and he was a great friend.”
Reflecting on his football career, Anderson calls it nothing short of “unbelievable.” The same can be said of his second career as a business owner, as Business Report details in its new cover story.
Anderson, now 69, still shows up to work most weekday mornings with the team spirit he always had on the field, though he doesn’t stay quite as long as he once did.
Few restaurants in Baton Rouge have stood the test of time as has Mike Anderson’s. It’s become something of a local tradition, intertwined with its founder’s alma mater down the street and holding a special significance to locals, and even with other high-profile Tigers: Current football coach Ed Orgeron, for instance, ranks it among his favorite spots in town, while Hall of Fame baseball coach Skip Bertman, a weekly regular, has his own special table in the back.
To this day, people still drive past the restaurant during football season to check on who Anderson thinks will win the upcoming LSU game and by what score, which is posted for all to see just under the eatery’s main sign.
“Restaurants open and close every day in Baton Rouge. Mike Anderson’s is a staple,” Bertman says. “I’ve been going for 35 years.”
Much of the restaurant’s staying power stems from its founder, who approached the restaurant business much like he approached football—as a fierce competitor, never shying from a challenge.
And the restaurant business holds its fair share of those. In its more than 40-year history, Mike Anderson’s has been through more than most could fathom: three fires, recessions, major hurricanes, a flood—none of it was enough to make Anderson give up, though. It’s not in his nature.
“I don’t like to lose,” Anderson says, cracking a smile.
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