Mall to get 2 restaurants

• By GARY PERILLOUX
• Advocate business writer
• Published: May 15, 2008 - Page: 1D - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

Two national restaurant brands, both new to Baton Rouge, will deliver hundreds of new dining seats to a Mall of Louisiana development in June and July.

BJ’s Brewhouse & Restaurant, a California restaurant featuring seven brands of its own beer, and Bravo Cucina Italiana, a white-tablecloth Italian restaurant, will open on outlying parcels near The Boulevard, the Mall of Louisiana’s new lifestyle center facing Picardy Avenue and the Rave cinema.

BJ’s will open June 9 in a 9,300-square-foot restaurant, General Manager Eric McBride said.

The restaurant’s final fire inspection to establish capacity hasn’t been completed yet, he said, but BJ’s restaurants of that size — there are 73 total locations in the publicly held chain — typically seat about 275.

The name implies a microbrewery — and some BJ’s do brew in-house — but the Baton Rouge restaurant will have the company’s signature beers shipped from the West Coast. BJ’s companywide sales last year were $316 million.

Corporate officials describe BJ’s atmosphere as a high-energy, family-friendly one replete with high-definition, flat-panel TVs, contemporary interiors and a menu featuring deep-dish pizzas, Cobb and other specialty salads, balsamic-glazed chicken breast, halibut fish tacos, sourdough Angus burgers and its Pizookie dessert (a large freshly baked cookie capped with vanilla bean ice cream).

Bravo — based in Columbus, Ohio — is a privately held company, with annual sales estimated in excess of $245 million when Foodservice Equipment & Supplies magazine selected Bravo Development as its 2007 Chain Operator of the Year.

Mall of Louisiana General Manager Todd Denton said Bravo, a 7,500-square-foot restaurant, will open in early July. Though it falls in the casual dining segment, Bravo’s aims for an upscale interior with vaulted ceilings, dark woods and high-end décor.

Foodservice gave Bravo plaudits for overhauling its menu three times a year and introducing new entrees from test kitchens that heavily weigh customer feedback.

Neither local nor corporate officials from Bravo returned calls, but the company’s menu lists such items as chicken parmesan Milanese ($13.99), grilled Georges Bank scallops ($16.99), filet mignon Toscano and wood-grilled, double-cut lamb chops (the latter two being $25 entrees).

Denton said Borders, the Michigan-based book and music seller, will open in about August at the outer end of The Boulevard, near BJ’s and Bravo. Across Picardy Avenue, Circuit City and Dick’s Sporting Goods also are planning summer openings between Rave and Interstate 10 in a power shopping center — one with significant anchor stores, usually near a larger shopping center.

“We hope by mid-August we’ll have a grand opening of both the power center and the lifestyle center,” Denton said. “By then, most everything should be open.”

The power center has about 5,000 square feet of remaining retail space available for lease, he said, and also will include a Lane Bryant Store, ULTA Beauty and DSW, a shoe store.