Louisiana's capital has neither the non-stop party scene nor the obvious cultural charm of its more celebrated neighbour to the southeast, yet this laid-back Mississippi river town offers a unique appeal. The French, Spanish, Creole and Cajun influences of its three-century history blend with the youthful spirit of Louisiana State University's nearly 30,000 students, stewing up a southern mélange that's on full display during Baton Rouge's own Mardi Gras celebrations, which end on March 1st, as well as events like the Baton Rouge Blues Festival (April 12th). Along rural roads and in revitalised downtown neighbourhoods, inside strip malls and by industrial sites, this unheralded city reveals a dynamic musical heritage and rich culinary history that demand to be discovered.
Friday
4pm
1 Blues Clues
Hidden along a down-on-its-heels stretch just north of downtown, Buddy Stewart Memorial Music Foundation & Rhythm Museum provides a decidedly lowbrow look at the city's musical history. The sparse, cafeteria-like room is lined with makeshift exhibitions about the band leader Buddy Stewart and local legends like Lazy Lester and Raful Neal. But the real gem is the vintage record collection housed two doors down, separated by a barber shop and behind a sign that reads "Tax Services" – also apparently available here; the shop is overflowing with 45s and 12-inch records from Louisiana bluesmen.
6pm
2 High Art
Transition to a much tonier cultural scene at the 125,000sq ft Shaw Center for the Arts, the showpiece of a revitalised downtown. The centre covers a full city block, encompassing the Manship Theater, where everyone from Branford Marsalis to high-school jazz bands have gigs coming up; the LSU Museum of Art, where an exhibition opening on March 8th will look at how jazz and the blues influenced Harlem Renaissance artists; and several smaller theatres, galleries and restaurants. During happy hour, Tsunami, a sushi restaurant with a sixth-floor terrace, is popular for sake cocktails ($6/€4.35) and preshow sunsets.
9pm
3 Down to Business
Restaurant IPO caters to the downtown business crowd, but the atmosphere is more West Village than Wall Street, with exposed brick, unfinished industrial walls and cypress wood furniture. The "Southern tapas" menu offers savoury items like deviled eggs mixed with crayfish and tasso – a peppery smoked pork regional specialty – and topped by crispy, batter-fried oysters. Larger plates like pan-roasted Gulf fish are also successful; dinner for two is about $100 (€72).
Saturday
9am
4 Pancakes and Pork
A popular food truck turned brick-and-mortar spot, GoYaYa's Crepes operates from a stand at the Main Street Market, a collection of local food businesses organised inside a parking garage. Thin, crispy pancakes are stuffed with inventive options like Vietnamese-style shredded pork with bean sprouts ($7.50/€5.45), plus seasonal specials such as pulled pork and peaches, matching what's ripe at the year-round Saturday morning Red Stick Farmers Market (redstickfarmersmarket.org), held just outside the building.
11am
5 Artisan Central
A scrap metal dragon and giant mermaid guard the exterior of Circa 1857, an art, antiques and architectural salvage store surrounded by many dozens of pieces from a self-taught welding artist named Joseph Jilbert. Take home something smaller, like a Master Lock tree frog ($100), then explore the rest of the artsy multistore compound. Shop for upscale crafts items like a driftwood bird's nest chandelier ($1,025/€745) at Mosaic Garden (mosaicgarden.biz); listen to banjo music over sweet tea at Yvette Marie's Cafe (bonannos.com); and browse reworked vintage jewellery and dish towel aprons ($22/€16) at My Louise .
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1pm
6 Fish Fry
"Swimming on This End. Fried on the Other End," reads the sign at Tony's Seafood Market & Deli, where fresh specimens are pulled out of the catfish tank on one side of the store and served on po'boys ($6.49/€4.70) at the other. If you're averse to the popular option of parking-lot dining here, hop back in the car and take your lunch to the grassy lawn fronting the Louisiana State Capitol Building. For dessert: a view from the 27th floor of America's tallest state capitol, gazing down at the surrounding gardens and historic houses of colourful Spanish Town, home to Baton Rouge's Mardi Gras festivities.
3pm
7 Art in the Park
Head over to another urban green space – the 154-acre City-Brooks Community Park, where the Baton Rouge Gallery Center for Contemporary Art is set in the park's 1920s-era former pool house. An artists' cooperative, the space showcases everything from experimental video art to spoken word.
Stroll on to the area known as Perkins Road Overpass, where independent boutiques and dining spots are clustered around an Interstate off-ramp. Sip exceptional pour-over coffee at Magpie Cafe, then browse Louisiana history and other rare tomes at Cottonwood Books.
6pm
8 Louisiana-Style Pizza
Yes, it does exist – and locals wouldn't trade it for a lifetime's worth of thin-crust Neapolitan slices. Fleur de Lis Pizza, a third-generation family-run business housed in a former cocktail lounge with a neon-lighted exterior, has been serving secret-recipe rectangular pies since the 1940s.
The “round the world” pizza ($13/€9.45 for a large) incorporates anchovies, Italian sausage, mushrooms, pepperoni, salami and onions into a gooey, extra-cheesy pie – crisp and greasy on the bottom, blistery on top. Waits on weekends can be up to an hour; stave off hunger with a pickled egg plucked from the jar on the bar ($1/€0.72).
9pm
9 Hunting for Tunes
Finding this city's live music scene can take some legwork, but when you do track down an authentic gig, it's something special indeed.
Occupying a former tavern in a less-than-desirable stretch of town, Red Dragon Listening Room is a nonprofit venue where mismatched couches and church pews face a modest stage hosting folk acts. Cover is usually about $20 (€14.50); the entire amount goes to performers.
Down a gravel road just outside town, Teddy's Juke Joint is a blues-lovers' twisted fairy tale covered in the sheen of Christmas lights and a glittery disco ball. It's the kind of place where waitresses hand out free Styrofoam cartons of turkey wings because the piano man is celebrating his 88th birthday; and where Teddy, the cowboy-hat-and-cape-clad owner, will serenade you from the DJ booth, then wax poetic about how he was born right here in this room.
Sunday
9am
10 Serious Dough
Hung-over college students and hungry families alike flock to breakfast at Coffee Call, a local institution set in an unsuspecting strip mall. Pillowy beignets ($2.20/€1.60 for three) are buried in mounds of powdered sugar and enjoyed best when dipped in a steaming mug of cafe au lait. For a more modern take on fried dough, head to a farther-out strip mall where Jeff Herman, a recent Louisiana State University graduate, opened Tiger Deaux-nuts in 2012, dreaming up creative flavours like bananas Foster, vanilla-jalapeño and maple-bacon.
11am
11 Geaux-ing Out
Work off some of that breakfast with a stroll through Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center, a 103-acre stretch of land where elevated boardwalks wind through cypress and tupelo trees, and hundreds of bird species can be spotted (admission, $3/€2.17).
Continue to the LSU Rural Life Museum, a former plantation where more than 30 preserved historic buildings brought here from across rural Louisiana showcase the state's wide range of vernacular architecture (admission, $9/€6.50).
2pm
12 River Boat
Head back downtown and venture on board the U S S Kidd & Veterans Memoria l, a 2,050-ton second World War destroyer now on the riverfront.
Children especially enjoy crawling across the quarterdeck and through the ship’s well-preserved interior (admission, $8/€5.80). Hop one vessel over and close out your weekend with blackjack aboard the riverboat portion of Belle of Baton Rouge Casino & Hotel.
- New York Times Service
