Summer is back in bloom again, and here in hot Louisiana, that means one tasty tradition that rises above the rest — DIG Restaurant Week in Baton Rouge. Featuring the best restaurants and unique culinary creations around the city, the week-long event celebrates Southern cuisine and invites residents with a love for food to venture into their community and sample all the sweet and savory flavors each setting has to offer. Restaurant week will be held from July 23 to 28, with more than 50 participating restaurants offering specialized dishes on a prix-fixe or pre-priced menu of their own making. Each three-course meal is carefully crafted by Baton Rouge’s best chefs to make Restaurant Week an event you won’t want to miss. Restaurant Week menus will offer delicious options at rates of $15, $20, $25, $30, $35 and $40 — giving guests the opportunity to try the tantalizing flavors the Capital City has to offer, interact with other food-lovers in the community and refine a special taste for their favorite dishes.

This summer, savor the unique Southern flavors and featured dishes of Baton Rouge by joining us at the Watermark hotel. Enjoy a dining experience like no other at The Gregory during Restaurant Week in July 2018. Clear your plates, prepare your palates and save your appetite for dinner plans on the town every night of the week.

Food Culture in Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge has a deep history of blended cultures that gives it a truly unique culinary tradition. For thousands of years before the first Europeans arrived in Louisiana, Native American tribes cultivated and nourished the land. In the 18th century, settlers arrived from France, Spain and Britain to create a melting pot in the Louisiana Delta unlike any other in the United States at the time. Colonists from each country brought their own cuisine while incorporating local ingredients for daring new flavors. Populations of Haitian migrants and West Africans also played a large role in shaping the unique cuisine that Louisiana is now known for.

Situated on the bank of the Mississippi River, Baton Rouge has continued to experience culinary influences for centuries as travelers pass through the Louisiana Delta. Cuisine in Baton Rouge is always adapting. It is spicy and rich with Southern-style comfort, as well as delicate and nuanced with flavor combinations to thrill any foodie. As food culture in Baton Rouge grows, you can discover an even wider variety of international dishes tucked in every corner of the Red Stick. Its roots in Cajun and Creole traditions, coupled with the creative spirit of Baton Rouge chefs, have given the city a food culture unlike any other — one you truly have to taste to believe. DIG’s Restaurant Week 2018 invites you to indulge your tastebuds in the world of flavor Baton Rouge has to offer.

Dine at The Gregory for Restaurant Week

The Gregory presents a casual but elegant dining experience like none other in downtown Baton Rouge. Before opening The Gregory’s doors, the restaurant’s culinary team dined at restaurants across Baton Rouge to craft a one-of-a-kind menu using local, sustainable ingredients. Our farm-to-table menu, created by chefs Chad Galiano and Justin Lambert, starts with traditional Southern dishes and adds an inspired twist. Our wood-stone oven, cast-iron grill and Spanish Josper oven create unique flavors enhanced by fresh, organic ingredients. Locals and visitors alike will be surprised and thrilled by The Gregory’s menu offerings that are perfectly complemented by our craft cocktails and local wines and beers.

While enjoying a fresh meal, diners are surrounded by bas-relief murals painted by Angela Gregory, a New Orleans local who was a trailblazer in the field of sculpture in the early 1900s. These unique historical pieces commissioned in 1949 line the walls above The Gregory’s open kitchen and full bar, creating a dining experience you will want to savor.

Our Delicious Restaurant Week Prix-Fixe Meal

Join us for dinner during Restaurant Week 2018 to enjoy a three-course meal of a salad, entrée and dessert of your choosing. Each dish on our special menu offers a variety of flavors to please any palate and pairs perfectly with our featured wines and cocktails.

For your first course, begin with a fresh Sensation Salad, savory Chop House Salad or classic Caesar Salad. Our Sensation Salad starts with crispy iceberg lettuce topped with tomato and fresh Parmesan cheese, and our lemon Romano vinaigrette finishes it off with a refreshing summery flavor.

Our Chop House salad is sprinkled with bacon and bleu cheese crumbles, and it will delight your taste buds all the way to the final drop of our house-made bleu cheese dressing. Our traditional Caesar Salad starts with romaine and Parmesan cheese then finishes with oyster anchovy Caesar dressing and crunchy garlic croutons.

Before you dive into your next dish, order a glass of our featured Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet or Beringer Chardonnay to complement your meal. Beringer offers some of the finest wines from the Napa region and is the longest continually operating winery in California. These premier wines will complement The Gregory’s delightful entrées.

Now that your taste buds have been tempted and libations refreshed, enjoy a hearty second course of Hanger Steak, Prosciutto wrapped Cod or Garden Ravioli. Hanger steaks are prized for their flavor and are considered to be one of the most tender cuts of beef. The Gregory prepares our Hanger Steak to your preference, and we pair it with caramelized red onion, arugula and chimichurri. For a final touch, enjoy potatoes roasted with flavorful duck fat.

Our Prosciutto wrapped Cod incorporates shellfish oil and lemon crawfish butter for a complex Southern flavor. We pair this perfectly cooked cod with juicy blistered tomatoes, roasted fennel and sautéed wild greens.

If you’d like to experience the mingling of savory and sweet, try our basil and sweet potato Garden Ravioli. We complete this dish with house-roasted vegetables and pesto cream sauce, making it perfect for vegetarians and enjoyable for anyone.

Complete your dining experience at The Gregory with a delectable dessert. Choose Pecan Praline, a pecan praline panna cotta topped with marshmallows to thoroughly satisfy any sweet tooth, or for a lighter option, you can try our Classic Chantilly Cake. This white chantilly cake is finished with fresh berries.

Now that your stomach is full, we hope you will linger for after-dinner drinks. You can select from The Gregory’s craft cocktail list or enjoy one of our featured cocktails for Restaurant Week:

• The Messermeister Mule is a drink like no other that combines the culinary genius of our chefs with the knowledge of our bartenders. Sip on Beefeater Gin infused with the savory and spicy flavors of cilantro, cucumbers, Spanish Padron peppers and lime. Habanero-infused simple syrup adds even more heat to this bold beverage that is finished with ginger beer and pineapple.
• Our El Diablo incorporates tequila, lime juice, ginger beer and Creme De Cassis for a refreshing sweet and sour drink that will leave you wanting more.
  
• The Alchemist starts with the luxurious Absolut Elyx vodka and adds the fresh sweetness of strawberries and Creme De Fraise liqueur. We top this artisan cocktail with bubbly champagne to make your tongue tingle.

If your mouth is watering, save your seat at The Gregory on OpenTable so you won’t miss this exclusive menu prepared for DIG Restaurant Week.

Other Offerings at The Gregory

After enjoying an elegant three-course meal during Restaurant Week, stop back again to enjoy The Gregory’s delicious selection of breakfast, brunch, lunch and late-night options.

Available daily at 7 a.m., breakfast at The Gregory features Southern-style cuisine, including eggs benedict with a crawfish cake and our Josper’d Frittata, featuring shrimp, crawfish and lump crab cooked in our Josper oven. Complete your meal with breakfast classics made with The Gregory’s special touch, including apple smoked bacon, flapjacks and grits.

If you prefer to sleep in a little on the weekend, join us on Saturday or Sunday for the best brunch in Baton Rouge. Our creative brunch menu features unique ingredients in perfect combinations that you will have to taste to believe. Experience turtle sauce piquant over Josper-smoked trout or let our butternut squash, cinnamon, brown sugar and vanilla bread pudding melt in your mouth. Enjoy Southern comfort food with a sophisticated twist in our New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp over goat cheese grits. No matter what you order, you can’t go wrong with breakfast or brunch at The Gregory.

While exploring downtown Baton Rouge or simply having a normal day at the office, stop by The Gregory for lunch any day of the week. Our elegant lunch menu is perfect for a business meeting or indulging in a delicious lunch out.

Begin your lunch with a tasty small plate of frog legs or redfish pate perfect for sharing. Select a healthy fresh salad from our garden offerings or get your daily vitamins with our cast-iron roasted vegetables. Our handhelds and flatbreads are the perfect portion for a mid-day meal and feature rich flavors like our charcoal smoke-roasted chicken with ville platte BBQ sauce or our swamp flatbread fired in our wood oven and topped with alligator sausage, crawfish, turtle sauce piquant and okra.

If you are craving something more filling, our lunch menu includes a selection of hearty dishes such as pan-seared chicken breast, charcoal roasted eight-ounce filet and cast-iron seared redfish with fresh side dishes. Lunch at The Gregory will thrill any diner with our mouthwatering selections.

When you are enjoying a night on the town, stop back over to sample our selection of local craft beers and enjoy a late-night bite of one of The Gregory’s unparalleled bar snacks. Our rotating selection of bottles, cans and kegs means there will be a new ice cold beer to try every visit.

Our selections come from some of the best breweries in the region, including Abita Brewing, Bayou Teche, Gnarly Barley, Great Raft Brewing, Lazy Magnolia, NOLA Brewing, Parish Brewing and Tin Roof Brewing. Complement your favorite beer, wine or cocktail with our signature half shell oysters or an assortment of alligator, green onion and andouille sausages with grain mustard, caramelized onions and roasted peppers.

Explore Baton Rouge During Restaurant Week 2018

While you are visiting Baton Rogue for restaurant week, be sure to stick around to experience the culture of Louisiana. Get close to the Louisiana wildlife with an Awesome Swamp Tour or a Twilight Tour at BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo. Dive into history by touring plantations in Baton Rouge or marveling at the tallest state capitol building in the U.S. — the Louisiana State Capitol. Ascend to the 27th-floor observation deck for a stunning view of Baton Rogue.

If the weather sends you indoors during Restaurant Week, explore the Louisiana Art & Science Museum located on the Mississippi River in a historic 1920s railway station. If you need to beat the heat, cool off at Blue Bayou Water Park where you can experience fun for the whole family by catching waves in Hurricane Bay or zipping down Lafitte’s Plunge. For more adrenaline rush, ride coasters at Dixie Landin’ or get some air at Area 51 Extreme Air Sports.

After enjoying dinner at The Gregory, head to Raising Cane’s River Center to celebrate the legacy of Whitney Houston in the “The Greatest Love of All: The Whitney Houston Show.” For something more unique, check out Justin Rayna’s Intensify for a multi-media event featuring some of the best musicians and performers in Baton Rouge. After stuffing yourself at one of Baton Rouge’s best eateries during Restaurant Week, you may want to burn some calories by signing up for Happys5000. This festive and fun 5k takes participants through the heart of downtown and ends with music, food and beer for the perfect end to a delicious week!

No matter how you fill your time between meals during DIG Restaurant Week, Baton Rouge is sure to thrill and entertain you all week long.

Dine in Delicious Style at The Gregory

Restaurant Week in Baton Rouge is all about culinary creativity and Southern-style inspiration. If you want to taste it all, enter the Restaurant Week Grand Prize Giveaway for a chance to win five dinners for two at any participating restaurant as well as free day passes to the Louisiana Art & Science Museum. Or you can give back by posting a photo on Instagram during DIG Restaurant Week. For every photo tagged #eatBR, two dollars will be donated to the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank to help fill stomachs across the city.

Whether you’re searching for delicious, unique meals or refreshing drinks this July, The Gregory has it all. Stop by for a sophisticated taste of Baton Rouge and enjoy the unique flavors of Southern-inspired cuisine. Expand your tastes in downtown Baton Rouge during 2018’s Restaurant Week by joining us at The Gregory. Bon appetit!