Daniel Unda was on a date night with his wife in Downtown Baton Rogue when the couple grew frustrated with their lack of drinking and dining options. Specifically, the couple couldn’t find a friendly place offering cheap drinks. That disappointing night out ended up becoming a key inspiration for Somewhere Neighborhood Bar, which is slated to open in January in the former Boudreaux & Thibodeaux’s at 214 3rd St. in Baton Rouge.
“I said, you know what, I’m going to make downtown’s neighborhood bar,” Unda recently told What Now New Orleans. “There’s a lot of working-class people downtown. It’s not just full of wealthy people. Downtown is also a melting pot: Every race and economical background goes there.”
According to Unda, a great neighborhood bar is based on a couple of hospitality fundamentals, providing good service and quality food and drinks.
“If you don’t take care of that, you’re gonna fail,” he said. “That might sound easy but if you don’t have the right people, it becomes hard. Everyone has to buy in. Most of my bartenders for the new bar have been working with me for the past four years, so they’re all experienced.”
In addition to providing good service, Somewhere Neighborhood Bar will also hang its hat on providing good value for dollar. The food menu offers a number of classic Louisiana bar foods, including fried pickles, seafood dip, cracklins, and a fried chicken sandwich. The bar menu will feature beer, wine, and drinks that Unda described as “fast-craft” cocktails.
“Waiting for a drink is one of the things that annoys me about a craft cocktail bar,” he said. “The drinks are delicious, but it shouldn’t take as long as it takes to cook a burger, just to get a mojito.”
