The history of this list is an important one to me. I got the idea from my good friend Carolyn D., a professor and former colleague at the Women’s Studies Department at the University of South Florida. To make life in Tampa bearable, Carolyn worked on a collection of cool things about the city. Carolyn, you have to understand, has lived *all over* the world. So, of course, Tampa would be boring to her. Especially since she has never lived in Baton Rouge. So I have borrowed her idea of making this list and it has become an ongoing conversation with several of my friends here who share a similar frustration with this “booming metropolis” in which we live.
When I was young I lived in two wonderful college towns: Austin, TX, and Madison, WI. These towns are meccas to young people. They are both state capitals and also home to major universities. They both offer food, cultural events, live music, politics, used book stores, alternative communities, and so on. I expected this from Baton Rouge since it too is a college town and state capital. I was disappointed. Since I have been here, the city has grown enormously, with many major restaurants and big box store chains moving in. There’s even a Whole Foods here now. Still, there is no art house movie theater, no decent used book store, very little in the way of alternative lifestyles. Most of the “activism” in the community takes the form of “social service” or “community service.” To be fair, many people think Baton Rouge is a great town because it’s definitely the place for partying, football, and church. Some people even party at the church of football. I’m not into that, though.
The Rules:
* The list cannot include restaurants because otherwise it would be page after page of eateries. I have included two exceptions and I explain why under each entry.
* The list cannot include people. There are too many good people here to include. The people I have listed are “service providers” and I’m including them as professionals, not acquaintances/colleagues/friends.
It has taken me many years to compile this list. The entries are not in any particular order:
1. La Madelaine
This is a delightful “French” restaurant on the corner of Jefferson and Corporate–”French” in the postmodern, hyperreal sense, meaning there’s nothing really authentically French about it. It has that old-time provincial feeling to it and good bread and coffee. Even though it’s a chain out of Dallas, it’s considered to be a “Best Bet” by New Orleans restaurant guides, particularly for breakfast, and the Baton Rouge version is my favorite restaurant here. There are three special things I like about La Mad’s.
First, they have a beautiful little garden in front that changes every time I go to the restaurant. So, if you squint your eyes and cover your ears, and focus your gaze on the flowers while blocking out the strip-mall parking lot sounds, fumes, and images, you might actually feel like you’re in France. Or New Orleans. Apparently the people who live in Atlanta, GA, agree with me, because they voted La Mad’s as the best bakery in Atlanta for their Creative Loafing. See? I told you it was a chain.
Second, many people dine at La Mad’s who look like the sort of people I want to get to know. In other words, women, with short hair, very cool earrings, who look like they might be Democrats, or the might like to read books and talk about them, or *gasp* they might even be pro-choice. A Marxist in the house? Dare I hope?
Third, every time I have dined alone at La Mad’s, I end up in the most curious conversations with single, elderly women, who all want to know what I’m eating, how it tastes, and how it compares to what they are eating. Not to mention whether or not I’m enjoying the pleasant weather and the Azaleas. It never fails. I promise. It is the most charming thing. Especially since I -know- these women eat here every day and have had the precise thing I’m eating, which makes their questions about more than food, obviously. It’s very -Southern-