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| Walk-On’s founders Brandon Landry, left, and Jack Warner, right, with Lafayette manager Tony Caballero |
Walk-On’s, the wildly successful sports bar and “bistreaux” with three locations in Louisiana, including one on Kaliste Saloom Road, is among 12 finalists for the Best Sports Bar in North America contest sponsored by ESPN Mobile. Founded in Baton Rouge by two former LSU basketball players, Walk-On’s New Orleans — the only reputable sports bar within walking distance of the Superdome — is the location in the running for the ESPN title. According to the Baton Rouge Today website:
With more than 150 flat-screen TVs, Walk-On’s has become the go-to destination for great food in a great sports-themed atmosphere. Walk-On’s is the place to go to cheer on the local teams, and to enjoy all the biggest sporting events of the year.
Walk-On’s has already been voted Best Sports Bar in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and New Orleans, so it’s fitting that it is the only Louisiana restaurant among the North American finalists.
The Baton Rouge blog site notes that Walk-On’s in New Orleans has played host to several fêtes for major sporting events, including the BCS National Championship, the SEC Championship and more. The New Orleans location also served as a hub of events for the New Orleans Bowl in December when UL’s Ragin’ Cajuns took home their first football bowl championship in school history.
Jack Warner and Brandon Landry were 23 and 22 years old, respectively, and on their way back from an LSU basketball game when they had an idea. Despite neither having a background in the service industry, they began to draw up plans for a bar, the kind Tiger jocks like themselves would adore. To educate themselves on the tawdry tales of service industry life, they went to work at several different bars and restaurants around Baton Rouge, from Chimes to Mellow Mushroom. Landry says they worked as bartenders, barbacks, servers, in the kitchen, and every job you can imagine in both back-of-house and front-of-house except management. Whatever they did, they did it right: Walk-On’s is a phenomenal success.
Voting to determine the four finalists for ESPN Mobile’s Best Sports Bar in North America ends Oct. 2; check back at www.theind.com to find out if Walk-On’s makes the cut and get ready to vote it into the top spot.
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
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