The State Bar will open Saturday at 209 W. State St. in the space that Louie’s Café occupied for 30 years before moving to a nearby space on Lake Street last October.
Owner Shane Courrege and his partner in The State Bar, Luis Macedo, spent more than a year planning the new establishment and renovating the building, an undertaking that cost an estimated $750,000. Longtime Louie’s regulars won’t recognize the 2,000-square-foot space once inside, Courrege says.
“Everytime someone comes in here they say, ‘I can’t believe this was Louie’s,’” he says. “We completely gutted the interior and redid everything.”
The State Bar will be a neighborhood bar with a limited menu of entrees, salads and gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. Though it is located just one block from the north gates of the LSU campus, Courrege isn’t necessarily targeting the student market only.
Courrege, who is a part owner of both Duvic’s and Spanish Moon, and Macedo, formerly the executive chef at Pinetta’s European Restaurant, have leased the building since last fall. It is still owned by Louie’s Café owner Jimmy Weatherford.
—Stephanie Riegel
