Welcome to our new e-newsletter: Best of 225 This Week

May 4, 2017

You might notice some ch-ch-changes around here. Since last fall, our team has been working tirelessly to revamp our digital presence. We started small, getting more active on Instagram and Facebook Live.

But behind the scenes, we had a much bigger project brewing: plans for the new website you are looking at now, an improved 225 Dine and a brand new events e-newsletter called Best of 225 This Week.

Here’s what’s new in your inbox and on our website:

Kesley Bourgeois in Atomic Pop Up Shop. Photo by Blair Thompson, featured in *Best of 225 This Week*.

Best of 225 This Week: Our new e-newsletter is a weekly roundup of the best things to do and see in the city. Arriving in inboxes every Thursday around lunchtime, it will include roundups of upcoming arts, music and entertainment events, photos of happenings around the city and curated guides of fun, new things to try. If you haven’t already, sign up for the newsletter here.

Stepping inside the brand new Bảo Vietnamese Kitchen for *225 Dine*. Photo by Allie Appel

225 Dine: Our foodie e-newsletter got a facelift, too. They say we eat with our eyes, and that’s true now more than ever. As iPhones have turned us all into food photographers, we often see or take pictures of dishes before we ever decide if we want to eat them. So for the last couple of years, we’ve been ramping up 225 Dine‘s food photography with that in mind. We launched our First Look series, taking readers into new, highly anticipated restaurants before they open to the public. We added original photography to our Fast Break lunch series, Q&As and features. All of that called for a clean, streamlined newsletter design that could showcase photos and visuals. Sign up for the newsletter here.

An image from our photo series on the day in the life of an Old South Baton Rouge barbershop. Photo by Collin Richie

225batonrouge.com: We wiped the slate clean and completely overhauled our website, redesigning its look, recategorizing stories and menus, enlarging photos and connecting each page to social media. We pour so much energy into our magazine’s original photo shoots each month, and we wanted this new digital space to showcase that. Going forward, you’ll notice more photo galleries and multimedia content on our stories. Our recategorized menus should allow you to find what you’re looking for more quickly—whether that’s a restaurant review of your favorite spot, an easy dinner recipe or an events calendar.

The reason we made these changes is simple: We’re hoping to better serve readers what they want. So, we want to hear from you. Leave us feedback in the comments, or drop us a line at [email protected].

And until then—see you next Thursday!