2021 Best of 225 Awards: Food & Drink winners

Best Breakfast

Frank’s Restaurant — 16.5%

Frank’s lumberjack lineup is piled with big flavors and portions, including multiple types of sausage, and made-to-order pancakes, benedicts, omelets and combo platters. The buttermilk biscuits come swathed in country gravy, shrimp and hollandaise or other toppings. franksrestaurantla.com

Runners Up:

Louie’s Café 13.8%

Another Broken Egg Café 11.3%

The Ruby Slipper Café 10.5%

Mason’s Grill 9.9%

Best Local Sandwiches

Anthony’s Italian Deli — 16%

Anthony’s Italian sandwiches are the stuff of legend. The warm, pressed muffaletta is just one option amid a lineup that pairs thinly sliced Italian meats with cheeses, veggies and sauces. Or, opt for a finger-lickin’ meatball po-boy with gooey melted provolone. bestmuffaletta.com

Runners Up:

Po-Boy Express 13.4%

Maxwell’s Market 11.5%

City Pork Brasserie & Bar 11%

Brew-Bacher’s Grill 10.9%

Best Salads

J. Alexander’s — 18.4%

Multi-textured and drizzled with dressings that span the flavor spectrum, J. Alexander’s entrée salads are a favorite diversion for shoppers and business types. jalexandersholdings.com/jalexanders

Runners Up:

The Salad Station 16.6%

Bistro Byronz 10.8%

Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux 10%

BLDG 5 9.4%

Best Sushi

Ichiban — 20.7%

At the top of the heap again, Ichiban is sushi Baton Rouge-style, in a spot that’s spacious and unassuming, welcoming to groups and seemingly infinite in its choices of multi-ingredient rolls. Boisterous teppan tables round out the options at this something-for-everyone family-friendly restaurant. ichibanbr.com

Runners Up:

Tsunami 17.4%

Sushi Yama Japanese Restaurant 14.9%

Geisha, Sushi with a Flair 12.5%

Sushi Masa 8.8%

Best Restaurant for Vegetarian and Vegan Options

BLDG 5 — 17.6%

Vegetarian fare is expressed through a creative, often global, lens at BLDG 5, where dishes include rustic shakshuka and grilled veggie boards served with piri piri sauce, tzatziki and roasted red pepper hummus. bldg5.com

Runners Up:

MJ’s Café 16.5%

Zoë’s Kitchen 16.3%

Mestizo Louisiana Mexican Cuisine 9.8%

Magpie Café 9.5%

Best Gumbo

Dempsey’s 14.1%

Dark roux is made from scratch daily at Dempsey’s, the first step in the restaurant’s sold-by-the-truckload chicken and sausage or seafood gumbos. A cup or bowl is just right with the also excellent po-boys. Find it on Facebook

Runners Up:

The Chimes 13.4%

Parrain’s Seafood Restaurant 12.1%

Mike Anderson’s Seafood 9.2%

Louisiana Lagniappe 8.7%

Best BBQ

BRQ Seafood and Barbeque — 20.8%

The smack-talking pit mastery taking top honors in national barbecue competitions is what Chef Justin Ferguson is going for at BRQ, where the meats are brined, then smoked low-and-slow over pecan and hickory wood to create just the right texture and bark. brqrestaurant.com

Runners Up:

City Pork Brasserie & Bar 17.2%

Hannah Q Smokehouse 15.5%

Cou-Yon’s Cajun Bar-B-Q 13.9%

Sonny’s BBQ 8.5%

Best Tacos at a Local Restaurant

Gov’t Taco — 27.4%

Flavorful proteins (and veggies) are matched with perfect-fit accompaniments in modern street tacos with a south Louisiana flair. govttaco.com

Runners Up:

Superior Grill 14.6%

The Velvet Cactus 10.9%

Mestizo Louisiana Mexican Cuisine 10.4%

La Carreta 8.1%

Best Pizza

Fleur de Lis Pizza — 22.7%

With so much upheaval in the world, there’s something comforting about a place that never changes. And we mean never. Fleur de Lis’ thin, simply topped pies haven’t been altered in decades, nor has its absolute rejection of credit cards. fleurdelispizza.com

Runners Up:

Lit Pizza 15.9%

Red Zeppelin Pizza 13%

Rocca Pizzeria 12.7%

Schlittz & Giggles 6%

Best Downtown Lunch Spot

Capital City Grill — 17.2%

Downtown lunch-goers flock to this full-service eatery for grilled fare, shoestring fries and daily lunch specials. The vibe is right for colleagues or clients. capitalcitygrill.net

Runners Up:

Poor Boy Lloyd’s 13.1%

Pastime Restaurant 13%

The Little Village 12.8%

Tsunami 11.1%

Best Burger

Curbside — 17.2%

The food truck-turned-restaurant keeps wowing us not just with its precisely prepared burgers, tots and fries, but also with its sense of place. Soak up the soda shop vibe indoors, or head to the porch and grounds, which feel like your best pal’s backyard. curbside-burgers.com

Runners Up:

Burgersmith 15.6%

Dearman’s 10.5%

Our Mom’s Restaurant & Bar 9.5%

Five Guys 8%

Best Fries at a Local Restaurant

Burgersmith — 17.9%

Ketchup is so last century. Here, hand-cut fries are gilded with butter and garlic; cheese, bacon and jalapenos; or salty, spicy house seasoning. Plain is real good, too. burgersmith.com

Runners Up:

Fat Cow Burgers & Salads 12.1%

Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers 10.7%

Curbside 9.9%

Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux 9%

Best Place for a Date Night

Tsunami — 14.9%

Take the elevator to the sixth floor of the Shaw Center, and stroll past the lively bar to enter a dining room awash in fly ‘fits. Is it watching the sun set over the Mississippi that makes this place so romantic, or the chance to share such gorgeous nibbles? servingsushi.com

Runners Up:

Gino’s Italian Restaurant 12.6%

Ruth’s Chris Steak House 9.6%

BLDG 5 9%

Stab’s Prime Steak & Seafood 8.7%

Best Bread at a Local Restaurant

The Little Village — 45.7%

“Don’t hate me because I’m popular,” said the Village Bread to the rest of the menu. Other dishes shouldn’t have to follow such tender, cheese-topped perfection. But life’s not fair. littlevillagebr.com

Runners Up:

Gino’s Italian Restaurant 12.8%

Raising Cane’s 10.8%

Ruffino’s Restaurant 4.53%

Rocca Pizzeria 4.45%

Best Craft Cocktail Menu

Olive or Twist — 22%

It’s time you had a Spring Affair—with gin, lemon, honey and lavender. Or raise a red-hued, shimmering Hurr-Rye-Cane—with rye whiskey, pineapple rum, passion fruit liqueur, dry curaçao and tropical fruits and bitters. The suspendered barkeep is ready to fill your craft cocktail heart’s desire. oliveortwistbr.com

Runners Up:

BLDG 5 12.2%

Hayride Scandal 11.2%

Bin 77 Bistro & Sidebar 10.8%

Beausoleil Coastal Cuisine 8.9%

Best Craft Beer Menu

Mid City Beer Garden — 31%

Hoppy? Wheaty? Dark and roasty? This beer lovers’ promised land prides itself on a rotating fleet of offbeat beers that give even the snootiest of connoisseurs something to post about. Experience new selections through a beer flight, accompanied by upmarket pub grub. midcitybeergarden.com

Runners Up:

The Chimes 23.7%

The Bulldog 15%

Mid Tap 10.9%

Olive or Twist 4.2%

Best Local Brewery

Tin Roof Brewing Co. — 53.3%

Baton Rouge’s first local brewery produces award-winning beer at its rustic-chic Wyoming Street facility, where patrons enjoy regular happy hours, yoga on the lawn and culinary pop-up events. tinroofbeer.com

Runners Up:

Le Chien Brewing Company 13.8%

Istrouma Brewing 12.1%

Cypress Coast Brewing Co. 7.3%

Rally Cap Brewing Co. 6.8%

Best Vietnamese

Chow Yum Phat — 18.3%

CYP specializes in Asian-inspired street food that refuses to conform to geographic boundaries or culinary traditions. Bao, ramen, dumplings and shareables are reimagined with unexpected ingredients—and we’re already looking forward to the return of the restaurant’s Viet-Cajun crawfish next spring. chowyumphat.com

Runners Up:

Ava Street Café 15.4%

Bao Vietnamese Kitchen 13.4%

Pho Café 13.3%

Drunken Fish 10.3%

 

Best Italian

Gino’s Italian Restaurant — 22.7%

More than a half century in business hasn’t dulled the luster of this white-tableclothed throwback, the site of countless pre-game dinners, prom nights and political deals. Don’t miss the Laurence bread or the crawfish arancini. ginosrestaurant.com

Runners Up:

The Little Village 15.2%

DiGiulio Brothers Italian Café 14.8%

Monjunis 10.5%

Ruffino’s Restaurant 8.5%

 

Best Mediterranean

Albasha Greek & Lebanese Restaurant — 41.7%

Baton Rouge’s taste for Mediterranean fare seems insatiable, with more restaurants opening every year. And yet, Albasha remains a consistent favorite, thanks to dishes like roast lamb, shawarma and impossibly creamy hummus. albashabr.com

Runners Up:

Serop’s Café 18.6%

Zorba’s Greek Bistro 13%

Café Phoenicia 8.1%

Roman’s Cafe 7.5%

 

Best Mexican

Superior Grill — 24.5%

All your cravings for Tex-Mex are satisfied at this local institution famous for fajitas, sizzling shrimp and hardy combo platters. Regular live music at both locations adds another dimension to the fun. superiorgrill.com

Runners Up:

Mestizo Louisiana Mexican Cuisine 15.8%

The Velvet Cactus 12%

La Carreta 9.23%

Tio Javi’s Mexican Grill 9.21%

 

Best Thai

Thai Kitchen — 32.4%

Pad thai, larb, spring rolls and creamy curries are among the must-trys at this Baton Rouge institution. thaikitchenla.com

Runners Up:

Chow Yum Phat 20.9%

Soji: Modern Asian 16.6%

Thai Pepper 9.9%

Thaihey Thaifood 7.5%

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This article was originally published in the July 2021 issue of 225 magazine.