Taste of history: Each month across our 20th year, 225 will revisit restaurants from our past coverage. From Capital Region classics and award-winners to trendsetters and hidden gems, these businesses have helped shape our dining culture.
A lot has happened in the Baton Rouge restaurant scene since the late Jay Prothro opened the original Jay’s Bar-B-Q at Government Street and South Foster Drive in 1954.
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Scores of new concepts have poured into the region ever since, including a rash of barbecue joints turning out succulent smoked meats and detailed sides. But Jay’s remains a clear-eyed nostalgia brand, beloved by regulars and steadfast in its simplicity.
With two locations in Baton Rouge, owned by two unrelated but connected families, the legacy of Jay’s is easily muddied.
Following a fire in the early ’60s, Prothro moved the business a few blocks west to the corner of Government Street and Glenmore Avenue, where it stands today. In 1978, his daughter Connie Newton and son-in-law Rick Newton opened a second location on South Sherwood Forest Boulevard, run today by their son, Rich Newton.
Three years later, in 1981, Prothro sold the Mid City storefront to the late Floyd LeBlanc, a longtime employee who started working at Jay’s at age 14. Floyd’s son, Milton LeBlanc, has owned and operated the Government Street restaurant since 1992.
Each store serves the same homey, unfussy menu: wood-smoked barbecue served in plate, po-boy or sandwich form along with curly fries, homemade coleslaw, potato salad and a thin, tangy vinegar-based sauce. Both spots attract location-loyal regulars.
In Mid City, some families have made it a tradition to meet weekly at Jay’s, along with alumni from what is now Baton Rouge Magnet High School, Milton says.
“There are families who have been with us since the ’50s. We still get conversations in here like, ‘I grew up eating here when Jay owned the place,’” Milton says. “Matter of fact, a group from Baton Rouge High meets here on the first Tuesday of every month. It’s always great to see them.”
Beef, specifically smoked top round, is the biggest seller at both locations. Customers love it on a po-boy, Milton and Rich say.
“Definitely the sliced beef and the chopped beef on a po-boy, we sell the most of those by far,” Rich says. “We sell a ton of hamburgers as well.”
Rich says the distinct sauce, less thick and sweet than what’s commonplace in Baton Rouge now, is beloved by Jay’s fans. Some started their teething children on “sauce bread,” or white bread dipped in sauce, he says.
“Just watching the generations of families that have been coming in, and seeing their kids and grandkids coming through, it’s been something,” Rich adds.
Like his dad, Milton started working at Jay’s in Mid City at age 14. He later graduated from Capitol High School, and briefly moved to Dallas before returning to work at the restaurant. He would buy out his siblings and stepmother after his father died.
“Originally, it was my dad’s dream; it wasn’t mine,” says Milton, who’s also the pastor of Second Macedonia Baptist Church on North 24th Street. “But when I started running it for him, I really just kind of settled into it, and I started enjoying what I was doing. It’s been real rewarding, just meeting people.”
While both locations have been longtime family businesses, it looks like that’ll end with the current generation. Milton and Rich both say their children aren’t interested in taking the restaurants on. Rich is actively looking for a buyer and has plans to move to Texas. Milton says he’s planning to retire soon, although he’s not sure when.
“It looks like things will stop with me,” he says.
For now, though, Jay’s will keep on smoking.
Jay’s Bar-B-Q
4215 Government St.
Find it on Facebook at @JaysBarBQBR
Jay’s Bar-B-Q
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5734 S. Sherwood Forest Blvd.
Find it on Facebook at @JaysBBQLA
This article was originally published in the May 2025 issue of 225 Magazine.