Lucie Monk Carter
The bandeja paisa at Sazon Latin Grill in Baton Rouge: ground beef, an over-easy egg, pork chicharrones, and sausage.
My kindergartener Susie's newfound aptitude for reading has mostly upsides, but short of throwing myself across the menu at Sazon Latin Grill, I was not going to be able to stop her from ordering the grilled cheese.
She may have changed her mind if she’d waited a few minutes for curiosity to kick in, as she tinkered with the little Latin American toys on display and tried to detach a Colombian sombrero vueltiao from the wall. And had we held her at bay till a selection of empanadas hit the table, she’d have been as intrepid as anybody.
Sazon is located in an unassuming strip mall amidst a concentration of nail salons along O’Neal Lane, and was opened by Daniel and Tay Lopera in spring 2023 as an answer to Baton Rouge’s dearth of Cuban and Colombian cuisine.
Susie’s interest in rectifying this particular unknown grew as the Cuban empanadas, in crisp pastry shell and comparable to Louisiana meat pies, were torn apart by her (only slightly gloating) parents to reveal spiced ground beef in one and shaved ham with gooey cheese in the other, only improved by a nosedive into complimentary sauces. The Colombian variety was encased in cornmeal and paired with a bright-green aji picante.
"Before you get yourself tangled up in picking the right, most impressive dish, give some time to appreciating the delivery of each and every menu item: assured, thoughtful, and satisfying. It’s seen in the festive bandeja paisa as much as the shredded beef in tomato sauce, the soupy black beans, the dreamily cold tres leches, which we clobbered to death with four spoons."
She wavered as we stuffed her illiterate baby brother with empanadas, beans, plantains, and croquettes. She sank when proffered fresh mango juice, which she and her sister slurped down.
Each empanada was then granted a bite; some sauces—after we promised they weren’t spicy—were also sampled.
Lucie Monk Carter
The churrasco dish at Sazon Latin Grill: grilled skirt steak with chimichurri and plaintains.
I do so much work to push my children toward some pioneer-like approach to new culinary territory that I glide past the point of a restaurant meal’s aim to delight, not mystify. For myself, so eager to have the fullest experience in my first visit, I committed to the menu’s largest item. The bandeja paisa is a traditional Colombian dish that can meet most any gym rat’s protein ambitions with ground beef, an over-easy egg, pork belly fried into chicharrones, and a glistening sausage. Did I forget to mention avocado, plantains, red beans, rice, and a corn cake?
Later that evening at home, we watched Titanic—now a cultural artifact of a cultural artifact—and I, my belly taut, felt more likely to sink to the bottom of the ocean than that inestimable craft.
[Read this: "Spice, Hold the Sugar: Mestizo celebrates twenty-five years of upending expectations" ]
But unlike the Titanic, I was destined to make another voyage, and short of the pressures of writing you this review, did not need to taste the whole rainbow of Latin cuisine in one dish. I’ll order the bandeja paisa again—perhaps remembering the concept of leftovers, or even sharing, which my kindergartener hears more about than I do. My appetite’s out for the churrasco my husband ordered, which he spared one bite of for me: grilled skirt steak with a devastatingly good chimichurri.
Go somewhere new, and go again. Sazon is a head-turning place not because the decor is extravagant (the wall hangings are scant but charming nods to Colombian culture) or kitchen is bustling (the seal between the dining and production spaces is so nearly hermetic I would have believed they were microwaving our food except all edible evidence was clearly to the contrary). There is a promise of some exotic experience, with claims that Baton Rouge doesn’t have much in the way of authentic Colombian and Cuban cuisine, or at least not where you’ve looked before. But before you get yourself tangled up in picking the right, most impressive dish, give some time to appreciating the delivery of each and every menu item: assured, thoughtful, and satisfying. It’s seen in the festive bandeja paisa as much as the shredded beef in tomato sauce, the soupy black beans, the dreamily cold tres leches, which we clobbered to death with four spoons.
Lucie Monk Carter
The grilled cheese at Sazon Latin Grill.
I couldn’t say it then, because I’m proud, but in all honesty, that grilled cheese looked impeccably bronze and evenly melted, the fries crispy and hot. I’ll sneak a bite on a future visit if I’ve forgone the chicharonnes. Nearer, my daughter, to thee.
