Strands Café | A Hidden Baton Rouge Gem

I've recently become obsessed with random adventures.

And poor Peter, always gets wrangled into them.

 

The day after Fourth of July [the same day as our Fifth of July Celebration], I picked him up and we headed to the Farmer's Market early... That day at the market was just.. ahh -- if I could get away with sitting on the curb all day, munching on free samples of cheese//random assortments of olive oils, and not look like a complete weirdo, I'd do it.

But, like the song says, "We can't always get what we want!" Nope.

 

Since it was the first of the month, The Baton Rouge Arts Market was in full force on 5th and Main Downtown. As we made our way down the second block [that was completely preoccupied with different artists] a young guy handed us a flyer and told us to head over to Strands Café after the market. I let him give us his "spill" about there specials, coffee, pastries and chocolate, then he said "brunch"... and I was in.

 

Meanwhile, Peter was not in my head and had no idea I was concocting a plan to extend our morning at the Farmer's Market, indefinitely. We headed to the car with our haul from the Market and I told him about the surprise I had in store. He, thinking it was going to be something actually "surprise worthy", got excited and started guessing. I then realized that he and I had two totally different ideas when it comes to surprises, mine always involves food.

 

So after lots, lots, lots of coaxing and almost abandoning him in the hot car, he decided to come with me to go on "an adventure" as I kept saying.

To be honest I had no idea what this place was going to look like, or what kind of food they actually had because I tuned the guy out after he said brunch [woops...] because I was already drooling.

 

When we walked in I immediately felt like I was somewhere else. The atmosphere was so... so.. different than anything else I've been in in Baton Rouge that I didn't want to leave. I wanted to sit there and try every thing on their menu.

 

Especially the chocolate... but it was not even 10 yet and eating mass amount of chocolate before 10AM is frowned upon... I think.

OH, the chocolate. I knew, from the flyer, that they would have "fine pastries and chocolate" but I had no idea it would be like this. I don't even know if you can call this stuff chocolate... this is art!  

Oh and did I mention that the second we walked in we heard a kid scream "THIS WAFFLE IS AMAZING -- YUM" at the top of his lungs? Yeah, so if that didn't scream, we made the right decision then well... I don't know.

When we walked up to the counter we were greeted with a smile by the same guy that had handed us the flyer. I was definitely glad we decided to go because I knew it made him happy that he actually pulled some customers in by standing there on the street corner... which takes loads of courage to do [props to him]. I told him to tell me everything they had because I was up for anything! He started telling me about there pastries, waffles and chocolate. Everything sounded amazing, but I was on the brunch train and I wasn't stopping until I reached brunchville.

Then, he said Provolone, Prosciutto Croissant and I stopped him mid sentence [which I kind of feel bad about now...] and told him I didn't have to hear anything else -- I wanted that.

Of course, Peter boycotted ordering because he was in the boycotting mood. So I ordered and paid my $4 and sat down to enjoy the atmosphere.
It was absolutely beautiful. The light coming in from the front windows, the gorgeous color of the wood + everything reflecting off one another. I wanted to move in.

Whomever decorated this place did so incredibly. Everything was placed perfectly and seemed like it was supposed to be there. My favorite part of the café may have been the brick wall.

It was amazing.
Peter was so embarrassed of my picture taking and he kept repeating "you're one of those people, Morgan -- you're being one of those people..."

Yup, I was that person snapping pictures of everything and I loved it.

Then, when I thought it couldn't get any better, they brought out my croissant.

I'm 99% sure that I shed a small tear... of joy. 

 

The prosciutto and cheese was perfect and complimented each other extremely well. We took it Togo because we needed to run by the store to start prepping dinner for that night. But when we got to the car Peter snuck a few bites... yes, a few, and he even said it was good. Told ya Peter!

Moral of this rant of a post... I'll be back [Arnold Schwarzenegger voice] to Strands Café. And moral of the other story, adventures are always fun -- even if someone complains the whole time... [ehm... Peter..]

 

Strands Café is located on 226 Laurel Street, in downtown Baton Rouge! They are open Tuesday - Friday 7:30AM - 4:00PM and Saturdays 8:00AM - 12PM. They also have tons of lunch options that already have my mouth watering... including Crab Cake Salad, Bacon Rum Roasted Chicken Sandwiches, Spinach Frittatas and tons more!

 

If you're looking for somewhere to escape to and enjoy some delicious treats, Strands will not disappoint.

 

 

Have a fit + fantastic day everyone!

Enjoy the day -- go on an adventure!