A Taste of the South: Notes from a Trip to Louisiana
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It turns out Louisiana BBQ tastes just like KC’s
After breakfast at Brennan’s in New Orleans, and getting our rental car, we started to make our way to Dallas. I had planned on being quite full from breakfast and not having to stop for lunch until we reached Natchitoches – but by the time we reached Baton Rouge we were quite hungry. I looked for a restaurant in Baton Rouge that was close to the highway, wasn’t a chain, had good reviews and served something that would be “new to us”. On paper, TJ Ribs met those qualifications.
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TJ Ribs is a “Louisiana barbecue” joint which doubles as a shrine to the LSU Tigers. I’m sure the place is popping during any LSU game. At any time, it’s filled with LSU memorabilia. I couldn’t be less into sports, but even I thought the place was cool. Clearly, it’s a labor of love.
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The restaurant is very casual, as you would expect from a sports restaurant, and our young waitress was very nice and efficient. Prices were higher than what I expected from a restaurant of this kind, however.
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We decided to split a rack of ribs ($40) and I was surprised at how small the rack was. It seemed overpriced. the ribs were good, tender, as you’d expect them, but they tasted very generic. I guess Louisiana must not have its own style of BBQ, because you could get similar tasting ribs at Chili’s. Again, good but not special.
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What actually was special was the coleslaw, and for a very simple reason: it had peanuts. As it turned out, the peanuts gave the coleslaw the nice crunch you never knew it needed. If I ever make coleslaw again, I’ll be sure to add them.
The onion rings, on the other hand, were very sad. Oily, with a gritty breading, and just not tasty.
TJ Ribs
2324 S. Acadian Thruway
Baton Rouge,LA
(225) 383-7427
Su - Th: 10:30am – 10:00pm
F - Sa: 10:30am – 10:30pm
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