The Little Village

Today we had a going-away lunch for the Executive Director at work and we ordered some take out from The Little Village.  The Little Village is a Baton Rouge original Italian-style restaurant with a lot to offer to casual and business diners alike.  Their downtown location is a block off the Mississippi River and very close to the state governmental buildings and corporate office buildings that make up the city's skyline.

We ordered the food to go and I walked over to the Little Village to pick it up and bring it back to the office.  The restaurant itself has a good ambiance to it.  The atmosphere is relaxed but still retains the feel of a nicer place where upscale business lunches can take place.  One of the highlights of any trip to The Little Village is their Village Bread.  The dough is woven before baked to create a loaf of bread that is easy to pull apart.  It comes out of the oven extra soft and is then topped with parmesan cheese and enough olive oil to make Popeye blush.  It is served with even more olive oil and an olive spread that you can add to the bread after you pull it apart or just sprinkle right on top of the entire loaf.  The Village Bread is without a doubt one of the best stand-alone bread dishes I have ever found at any restaurant.

The Village Bread (the half that was leftover, anyway)

In addition to the bread, we also enjoyed a Caesar Salad, Vegetable Lasagna, and Shrimp Diavlo with Penne Pasta.  It was a quite a feast for a lunch at the office!  The whole meal was pretty excellent.  The highlight of the salad was the homemade croutons that gave just the right crunch to the bed of romaine lettuce, cheese, and dressing.  The vegetable lasagna stood tall with multiple thin layers of noodles and sliced vegetables and was then topped with a thick marinara sauce.  I was about as impressed as I've ever been with a vegetable lasagna, being the meat eater that I am.  The best part of the meal for me (other than the bread) was the Shrimp Diavlo with Penne Pasta, even though it was a little light on the shrimp.  The creamy sauce was delicious and the pasta was nicely boiled into a soft, yet firm, noodle.

Shrimp Diavlo with Penne Pasta (after we ate almost half of it)

The Little Village provided us with a nice meal for our going away lunch, although I will warn that it is a little on the pricy side for just a casual lunch.  I've never been to their Airline Highway location, but I'm sure it is just as good!  I would bet that I'll be back at some point in the future, even if it is just for the bread!