A Taste of the South: Notes from a Trip to Louisiana
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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