Some Baton Rouge restaurants have history. City Cafe has more than a century of it, and it started beside a railroad depot in Plaquemine.

Martin Miranda opened City Cafe on Main Street there in 1919. In 1933 his brother Jimmy took over management with family members, and they ran it for the next 43 years. During World War II and the Korean War, soldiers waiting for their trains often got a meal from Jimmy at no charge.

Bringing it back to the family

The cafe left the family in 1976. Four years later, Jimmy's son Charles "Squeaky" Miranda, a Plaquemine student-athlete turned teacher and coach, decided to buy it back. He reopened it in 1981 after a major remodel, and it went back to feeding locals and plant workers three meals a day.

A 1994 fire badly damaged the building, but an old menu survived. It listed sandwiches for 25 cents and two eggs with a homemade biscuit for 30 cents. The Plaquemine location was sold in 1998, and in 2002 Charles reopened City Cafe in Baton Rouge. Some dishes still come from the family's original 1919 recipes.

The weekday lunch lineup

Lunch specials run 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday, with a different set each day. Monday brings red beans and rice with link sausage, and Tuesday is beef pot roast with brown gravy. On Wednesday, look for the Montegut: blackened fish topped with shrimp in white wine butter sauce. Friday leans on fried catfish and Shrimp Royal over crawfish etouffee.

The regular menu covers chargrilled oysters, boudin balls, seafood gumbo, corn and crab bisque, and po-boys. There's also a Sunday brunch menu.

Plan your visit

City Cafe is at 4710 O'Neal Lane. It's open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Call 225-753-4420 about catering or private parties.

Pull up a chair. The recipes have been waiting since 1919.

Photo courtesy of City Cafe.