Short rib debris dipper with mac and cheese from The Colonel's Club
When a restaurant has both good food and good interior design, that's the magic spot for me. Lucky for Baton Rouge, the newly opened Colonel's Club has both — and not just good but great.
For dinner, I ordered the short rib debris dipper with braised short ribs, aged gruyère cheese, melted pepper and onions and roasted garlic aioli on French bread served with au jus.
The short rib melted in my mouth, and the cheese, peppers and onions meshed so well together. The sandwich experience was topped off with au jus to dip — a perfect concoction.
Mac and cheese from The Colonel's Club.
It would be criminal not to mention the mac and cheese, which is creamy and delectable. The shells are big enough that you really feel like you're getting your money's worth. At the end, the mac is toasted and topped with parsley.
The Colonel's Club, 2857 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge. (Lauren Cheramie, staff writer)
Specialty pizza at Jim Deggy's
I appreciate a good and simple cheese pizza, but I love creative specialty pizzas even more. It’s one of the reasons I constantly drop into Jim Deggy’s for lunch.
For about $14, I ordered the Spicy Boii Bleu, a personal-sized pizza that I could easily split for two meals.
A Spicy Boii Bleu specialty pizza from Jim Deggy's in downtown Lafayette pictured on Sept. 27, 2024.
The buffalo-based pizza comes covered in chicken, red onions, jalapeño, bleu cheese crumbles and ranch dressing. It was spicy enough to make my mouth tingle, but it still allowed me to savor all the flavors. The bleu cheese wasn’t overpowering but delivered a nice strong kick. I loved that the pizza came with fresh rather than pickled jalapeño.
Jim Deggy’s Brick Oven Pizza and Brewery, 201 Jefferson St., Lafayette (Ashley White, education reporter)
Chicken Curry at Bao Market and Deli
Chicken curry with potatoes and yams to go.
I chose the chicken curry, zucchini and mushroom stir fry and lo mein at Bao Market and Deli.
The chicken curry included fall-off-the-bone chicken thighs, chunky potatoes and thick yams in a mild, sweet yellow curry. While the lo mein was good, the white rice soaked up every bit of the delectable sauce and was the better starch.
I finished off the meal with a Chin Chin Peach Black Tea and a Dalgona candy that tastes like a blackened marshmallow (in a good way!). I can't wait to return and try more dishes.
Although the hot bar is $7.99 per pound, with my other treats and some extra rice, my meal came out to about $20.
Bao Market and Deli, 17316 Airline Highway, Prairieville (Joy Holden, staff writer)