The Chimes

Ask anybody where to go for food or drink on gameday in Baton Rouge, and the inevitable response will be “The Chimes”. There were a handful of other places mentioned, but The Chimes was unanimously at the top of the list. So on Saturday afternoon before the game, to the Chimes we went.

http://www.thechimes.com/overview.cfm

The Chimes is an LSU campus staple, but could aptly be described as slightly more upscale than your typical college beer sling. On gameday it is expectedly packed, and given the hour plus wait for a table, we opted to elbow our way into some bar seats. (Next to the impressive lineup of taps)

The beer menu is the runaway winner at the Chimes and they boast over 60 beers from 20 countries. I obviously opted for the darkest local beer they had on tap, which proved to be Turbo Dog from Abita Brewing company (a dark brown ale). Abita is a Louisiana brewery located in Abita Springs, LA, and I was favorably impressed enough to bring a six pack back to Texas with me.

http://www.abita.com/

As promised we sampled the fried gator tail. Which of course, resembled and tasted like chicken, and in a blind taste test I would be hard pressed to tell the difference. This of course adds more credence to my theory that all deep fried foods essentially taste the same. You could deep fry a rusty screwdriver and it would still taste like chicken.

The one fault I found at Chimes had less to do with the Chimes itself, and more to do with the concept of the “Po’Boy”. As a born yankee, I was quite eager to sample my first Po’boy and I promptly ordered up a shrimp version of the Louisiana staple. In my head I had mistakenly built it up to be a unique Louisiana take on the sandwich (something akin to a Philly Cheesesteak or a Primanti Bros. sandwich).

Instead, I was slightly chagrined to find that it’s simply a sandwich, and a rather boring one at that. Shrimp, lettuce, tomato, bun. These things make a Subway footlong look like a nine course epicurean tasting menu.

The offending "sandwich" with the fried gator in back.

It’s time to drop this deceptive “Po’Boy” nomenclature, and call it for what it is: just a sandwich.

In all though, The Chimes is a pregame must do, and the beer menu alone is worth the visit.

http://www.thechimes.com/beermenu.cfm