LPK Bar & Grill. - Baton Rouge Louisiana.
Best Pizza, Bar & Grill
7474 Corporate Blvd. Baton Rouge, LA 70809
Phone: (225)926-5800 Fax: (225)926-5866
Town Favorites Magazine - July Release - Page 18-19
When the news first hit that Louisiana Pizza Kitchen was changing its menu and tweaking their name to LPK Bar and Grill, I thought, “NOOOOOO!” Well the name thing was ἀne as half the time people referred to them as LPK, anyway. But my family loves their thin crust pizzas. In the old fashioned wood-ἀred brick pizza oven it comes out light and flaky yet sturdy enough to hold a bunch of delicious toppings. Yes, I’m in the camp that believes there is no such thing as bad pizza. But even the most selective pizza connoisseurs will agree pizza, cooked in one of those ovens, becomes tasty delights that are unmatched by standard cooking methods. What’s more that unassuming restaurant, amongst the many we are so lucky to have here, also happens to have arguably some of the ἀnest pizza sauce. So with taste bud dilemmas in mind we got in touch with the owner, Krikor Dakessian.
When the news first hit that Louisiana Pizza Kitchen was changing its menu and tweaking their name to LPK Bar and Grill, I thought, “NOOOOOO!” Well the name thing was ἀne as half the time people referred to them as LPK, anyway. But my family loves their thin crust pizzas. In the old fashioned wood-ἀred brick pizza oven it comes out light and flaky yet sturdy enough to hold a bunch of delicious toppings. Yes, I’m in the camp that believes there is no such thing as bad pizza. But even the most selective pizza connoisseurs will agree pizza, cooked in one of those ovens, becomes tasty delights that are unmatched by standard cooking methods. What’s more that unassuming restaurant, amongst the many we are so lucky to have here, also happens to have arguably some of the ἀnest pizza sauce. So with taste bud dilemmas in mind we got in touch with the owner, Krikor Dakessian.
Q: You’ve changed your menu???? Please tell me you won’t be taking away your delectable pizzas cooked per-fectly in your wood-Ḁre brick oven?
A: Oh absolutely not. The menu change was something that we have been thinking about doing for a while to appeal to more guests, but never would we think about taking the pizzas away. Especially, since we are probably the only restaurant that oᴀers whole wheat pizzas and wraps for the health conscious guests. Relief…With that issue settled, I became more level headed and was able to discuss the restaurant’s “transfor-mation”.
Q: Your restaurant was primarily an “Italian” restaurant that served as many pasta dishes as it oᴀered pizza varieties. You have thankfully kept many of the pizza options and quite a few of the pasta dishes as well. But you’ve added items like Po-boys and Rib-eyes, now. How did you decide on what to keep and what to add?
A: Well we did a soft study in the market on what people liked in bar and grill concepts. Ḁe new items that popped at us were homemade hamburgers, steaks cooked in our brick oven, and more po-boys and sandwiches. They have all been incredible additions. As far as some of the old favorites that were taken oᴀ, we will bring them back as weekly specials.
Q: Speaking of making decisions what got you interested in the restaurant business in the Ḁrst place?
A: I’ve always been a big fan of food even as a kid. I was working in the restaurant business during my college years and absolutely fell in love with it. So I switched my major to Hotel, restaurant, and tourism, at the University of New Orleans and the rest is history.
Q: It’s not entirely unusual for a business in this town to have a bunch of TV’s with sports on. But when it’s a major game or a Saturday, in the fall, you also breakout the projector screen for your customers to watch the game in almost life size proportions. Is that as much for your viewing pleasure, seeing as you have an open kitchen?
A: Oh absolutely. I’m a big time sports fan and if I can’t watch games it drives me crazy, especially LSU. It’s a nice toy for me to have the 100” screen during games but my guests to enjoy it as well.
