By Daniel Hembree
Long have I been a fan of food, but only recently was that love reignited with a fresh take on it. Newly opened in July of 2010 Niche Restaurant has found a place in my heart and stomach.

I decided to order their special for our appetizer, homemade pepper jack cheese sticks. For our entrees, my wife ordered a bowl of Crab and Corn Bisque and for myself the grilled mahi - mahi with mango salsa and garlic mashed redskin potatoes.

When our appetizers first arrived we could not believe the size of the sticks! 5 overgrown fried cheese logs sat in front of us extremely hot from only moments before being lifted from the fryer. While we started to enjoy them we did notice 1 was missing the best part, THE CHEESE! However, after making our server aware, a manager came out and replaced the entire appetizer without the slightest hesitation. Shortly before the second appetizer order of cheese sticks arrived our entrees were brought out. I was not thrilled. If this was to be my only complaint, I am sure our readers would have some witty comments on my maturity and the size of utensil protruding from my mouth.

If it had not been for the remake of the appetizer, entrees would have been timed perfectly. My wife’s bisque was truly amazing. Creamy, chunky, and the best part of all is that it did not feel as though it had been sitting in a steamer all day waiting on some poor sap to order it. The Fish was fantastic and light; fell right apart in a flaky efficient fashion. Topped with an amazing mango based salsa that screamed go ahead you know I am just too pretty to not eat.  

Bring on the desert. A trio of red velvet, peanut butter chocolate, and key lime ice cream based cakes. The red velvet was light and creamy, while the peanut butter chocolate was thick and rich. In the end the key lime pie was the perfect follow up to the transition on desert leaving a very pleasant feeling in your mouth and stomach.
 
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Service
The staff is very knowledgeable of the food since they make sure to have all staff sample the food which is always an A+ in my book. Regularly prompt on refilling of drinks, checking on us after service of food, and outlining of specials and events for the restaurant mixed with a collage of information and personal thoughts made a very warm experience. Minus the overall mishap of our appetizer, the service was friendly, generally attentive, and experienced.

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Atmosphere
With a light hearted environment, lively music (without drowning out idle conversation), a patio out front for the cool breezy days, wide beer selection, and over all ambience; there is much to be desired with this truly Cajun Experience. Bring your family and friends, for, in this humble critic’s eyes, I have finally found my Niche and you can too.

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Niche Bar & Grill
6606 Siegen Lane
Baton Rouge, LA 70809
(225) 300-4916
www.nichebarandgrill.com

Since 1958, this roadside drive in has been an icon in the town of Livingston. Its rare now days to find an old fashioned drive-in (I'm not talking Sonic here people) that still keeps it roots from so long ago.

The Snow Top Drive In is an outdoor eatery experience. You drive up, place your order at the window and eat your food on one of the concrete picnic tables. Today the heat was brutal (101 degrees by my thermometer), so I decided to stay in my vehicle for this review.

Now, what to order? Snow Top features nothing but All-American foods such as hamburgers, chicken tenders, po-boys, sandwiches, etc. So I felt compelled to review the cheeseburger  meal since this was in fact a drive in.

I finally decided on the 1/4LB cheeseburger with cheesy tots on the side. Once I received my food, I first opened the styrofoam box to find my cheesy tots. Wow! They looked amazing! I had to dig into the tots first. Words can't describe how good these tots and cheese are. The tots were floating in a melted American cheese.  

I devoured the tots quickly, before taking a first bite of my burger. The tots alone are enough to bring me back time and time again to this place, but now its burger time, the holy grail of the drive in I guess you could say.

The burger was a very nice size. It seemed that the meat was weighed in at a 1/4Lb after being cooked instead of vise-versa like other restaurants. The burger had  that fresh off the grill taste and was very descent. Not the best burger I have ever had, but it had that classic-drive in burger taste. Yes Sah!

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Service
The service was pretty quick and the order-up girl was friendly. Not too shabby.

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Atmosphere
When you eat here, it feels like you are stepping back in time a little bit. The building is a cool little roadside drive in that sits in the heart of Livingston (also a place that has that feeling of stepping back in time). The fact that you have to sit outside in the sun (no shade at all) is what kind of sucks. Make sure you come here on a nice day, or you'll be eating out of your vehicle like we did.

Now I know its a drive in, so i wont be too harsh with this rating. Eating outside does add to the experience, and overall, I had a pretty good one at Snow Top.

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Snow Top Drive In
13768 Florida Blvd
Livingston, LA 70754
(225) 686-2175
www.snowtopdrivein.com

I went with the cheeseburger fully dressed with grilled onions, bacon and a side of fries. They got the fries out to us first, so I dove into those before the burger came out. They were not good at all. They were luke warm and soggy and didn't have much seasoning on them. It was not a good omen for what was to come. Hopefully the burger would fill me up!

Shortly after the 'fry" experience, my burger was brought out. The burger was a decent size, and looked juicy as hell. I picked up the burger, bite into it and........ it was just OK. The burger was good but no where close to being the best burger in the area. The beef was juicy but didn't have enough flavor and I had a hard time tasting the bacon as well. The topping seemed to over power the burger more than the meats did.

If you want a decent burger I would recommend Dearman's, but don't go in expecting this place to be the top dog. Frankly it did not live up to the hype of all that I have heard, but its also being ran under new management which usually makes a world of difference.

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Service
Service was good but not memorable. We took a seat and placed our order. Within a few minutes we had our food. However, I would have liked to have seen a little more enthusiasm from the waitress, but she did a good job.

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Atmosphere
Dearman's is the classic soda fountain shop with checkered tile floors and bar surrounding the grill. The place is pretty spread out as well, allowing for a lot of elbow room between tables. I've seen better classic soda shop themed restaurants in the past, but overall it was a nice, clean atmosphere.

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Dearmans Soda Fountain
7633 Jefferson Hwy
Baton Rouge, LA 70809
(225) 924-1391

The gumbo here is served very thick, something unusual when it comes to gumbo, and served over a bed of rice. The taste is truly fantastic and definitely one of the best gumbos I have ever eaten.  The big chucks of rabbit meat and andouille sausage work very well together and the thickness of the gumbo itself make the meal more filling. I’m stuffed for now, but I’m sure I’ll be craving this meal again later.

Calling all beer connoisseurs! One really cool feature of Chimes East is the “Round The World Beer Challenge”. This challenges guest to drink 60 beers from 20 different countries (not is one trip of course). If you succeed in doing so, you will be immortalized on the wall plaque.

Food Rating:

Service
Chimes East is a very popular place to eat. Being constantly packed, it can make it hard to get a seat and your food out quickly.

When I arrived, there was a wait so I decided to go sit at the bar area for my meal.  We sat straight down and ordered our drinks. The waitress was friendly, but a little slow to take out order because of all the drinks she was making for people at the bar.  But all-in-all she did a pretty good job for the customers she was serving and it really didn’t take long for our food to come out. Whatever wait I had, it was well worth it.

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Atmosphere
Chimes East has a great atmosphere featuring a patio, bar area, televisions, upper and lower deck and the around the world beer challenge.  Its clean, open, and fun.

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The Chimes East
10870 Coursey Blvd
Baton Rouge, LA 70816
(225) 296-4981‎
thechimes.com

The inside of the building glowed brightly with pink neon light and once inside you feel like you have ventured back to the 1950's. Cheeburger Cheeburger pretty much sells two items: burgers and shakes (there are other items). The interesting thing about this place is that you build your shake, malt, or burger the way you want it with a list of ingredients and toppings thats about a mile long. They also feature multiple dipping sauces for chicken tenders, fries, and onion rings.

I decided to order the 1/3LB burger with pepper jack cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and barbecue sauce. On the side I got the combo of onion rings and fries and finished off the meal with a cookies and cream shake.

The burger was huge (and its the second smallest they offer) and tasted great. The meat was well seasoned and tender. It wasn't the best burger I've ever had, but it was good.

The fries here are excellent. They are cut into small chip like sizes, fried, and covered with a ton of black pepper seasoning.

On the other hand, i was not impressed with onion rings. They were too bland and all you could really taste was the batter (where's the onion).

After my meal, I got my cookies and cream shake to go. It was delicious. Very creamy and has that classic homemade taste that you would find in the old car hops. There are plenty of combination's to create whatever you want, so be creative when ordering. You may come across something new.

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Service
The service was decent. The waiter was a little slow to take our order but did a good job during the meal. He was friendly, explained things well, and kept us refilled.

On the other hand, the food wasn't prepared all that fast in the kitchen, but it was worth the wait.

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Atmosphere
Great Atmosphere. Feels like your in the 1950's diner. Fun decorations and music. Cheeburger Cheeburger also offers a food challenge that if you can eat their 1LB burger, you get your picture taken and put on the Wall of Fame. I'll have to come back one day and give it a try!

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