Here’s where to find trendy foods and drinks in the Capital Region
These tasty treats have gone viral for a reason 😋🔥
Baton Rouge is quickly becoming a culinary powerhouse, with new restaurants opening monthly and existing establishments revamping their menus.
Recent years have seen the explosion of food trends on social media—the Dubai chocolate craze is only just now fizzling out—and many local spots have hopped on these viral moments, bringing new and unique flavors to the Baton Rouge food scene.
From reimagined classics to out-of-the-box creations, here’s where to find trendy foods in Baton Rouge:
Fruit pastries
First conceived by French pastry chef Cédric Grolet, these hyper-realistic fruit tarts, or trompe-l’œil, have been all over social media since last summer.
These desserts are normally filled with fruit and mousse filling and are shaped and hand-decorated to look like real fruits, including popular flavors like raspberry, mango and peach. When the trend first took off, many food influencers traveled as far as Los Angeles to get a taste of these tarts. Luckily, bakeries here in Baton Rouge offer their own versions of the viral dessert.
Sarah’s Bakery, an online business owned by LSU student Sarah Prado, began offering these pastries in April, selling classic fruits like bananas, mangos and raspberries, as well as chocolate-flavored cocoa beans and tiramisu coffee beans.
At Bonjour, customers can choose from pastries shaped like mangos, pistachios, pears, strawberries, raspberries and more. This dessert shop is located at 5727 Essen Ln.
Soft-serve margaritas
The summer heat is here, and what better way to cool down than with an ice (cream) cold margarita? This trendy take on the Tex-Mex staple combines a traditional margarita with soft-serve ice cream, making a beverage perfect for the season.
Local restaurants like Luna Cocina, Los Reyes and The Pink Agave all serve the tequila-filled treat. For a full list of soft-serve margarita spots, check out this list of restaurants in the Capital Region.
Scoopable cookies
Roul’s Sno-Ball Trailer offers more than just Louisiana’s favorite frozen treat. This snoball food truck, located on 1210 O’Neal Ln., has made the viral scoopable cookie its own with trendy flavors like Biscoff chocolate chip and Dubai strawberry.
Open Tuesday through Saturday, Roul’s Sno-Ball Trailer delivers delicious, on-the-go desserts.
Dirty sodas
Dirty soda shops first popped up in Utah as an alternative for those who don’t drink alcohol and coffee, but they have since spread nationally as soda lovers across the country latch onto the trend.
Swig, a Utah-based dirty soda chain, will open a new location in Baton Rouge this coming year, though a specific date has not been announced.
In the meantime, Baton Rougeans can get their dirty soda fix from local businesses like Stir, Pop’n Rouge, Sugar Roux Sips and Cloud 9 Iced Drinks.
Hot chicken
Turn up the heat with hot chicken from these local restaurants. Dave’s Hot Chicken, located at 640 Arlington Creek Center Dr., opened its first Louisiana location in Baton Rouge last August, bringing with it a menu of sliders, chicken tenders and buffalo mac and cheese, all served with Dave’s signature spice.
Other local spots like Chicky Sandos, Chicken Wagon and Blazin’ Hot Chicken have also brought these flaming flavors to the Red Stick, with new locations opening up in Baton Rouge over just a couple of years.
Matcha
Unlike some of these other trendy foods, matcha did not explode onto the scene overnight. This green tea beverage, known for its bright green color and creamy consistency, has roots dating back to 7th-century China. However, the drink took over social media during the COVID-19 pandemic as wellness influencers began posting about it as a healthy alternative to coffee.
Now, just about every coffee shop has added matcha to its menu. Light House Coffee, Le Rêve and Magpie Café all serve the classic matcha, while other places include some fruit-infused flavors, like Stir’s strawberry pistachio and blackberry matchas and Pura Vida’s strawberry matcha.
Cherrybomb’s Mike’s Matcha puts a delicious twist on the tea by adding lavender and honey to the base and topping the drink with a vanilla ube cold foam, creating the perfect matcha for anyone repping some Tiger pride.
