Mother’s Day is this weekend, but if you’ve procrastinated or are just stumped for ideas, it’s not too late to plan something special. We put the call out on Facebook to restaurants that had a little something in mind for mom this Sunday. Here’s what we found out:

Belle of Baton Rouge: The casino will offer live jazz in the atrium and brunch from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. for $25 per person, $12 per child 12 and younger. Call 242-2600 for more information. (Map it!)

Fleming’s Steak House: Fleming’s will open its doors at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday to serve up a delicious brunch menu until 3 p.m. The regular menu will also be available. Reserve your seat online by clicking here. (Map it!)

Hilton Capitol Center: Dine in style in the Hilton’s Riverview Ballroom while you enjoy live music and an impressive layout of buffet brunch items, from omelets and waffles to praline bread pudding and chocolate-covered strawberries. Call 344-5866 for reservations. (Map it!)

Hotel Indigo: Hotel Indigo offers a plated brunch menu on Sunday with seating times of 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m., and you can enjoy $12 endless Bloody Marys or mimosas with your meal. Call 343-1515 for more information and reservations. (Map it!)

Black-as-night turtle soup, sticky cane syrup duck, and barbecued shrimp that begs for bibs and napkins: such trappings have made Café des Amis in Breaux Bridge (Map it!) a favorite haunt for Baton Rougeans in search of great destination food. Any road trip aiming for points west of our city would benefit from a stop at this enduring eatery that defines “worth the drive.”

Long patronized by writers, artists, tourists and locals, Café des Amis is the pulsing anchor of the town’s charming Main Street. Its adjacent sister property, Maison des Amis, offer diners a quaint, relaxing bed and breakfast option.

Staying overnight on a Friday gives visitors a chance to experience the bump and grind of the famed Saturday morning Zydeco brunch. Along with washboards and sure-footed dancers comes a rare Cajun- and Creole-inspired breakfast menu. Look for couche couche, a cozy bowl of cornmeal and milk topped with syrup or sugar, and orielle de cochon, fried dough shaped like a pig’s ear stuffed on one end with a thin cord of boudin. Here, pancakes can be embellished with praline sauce, grits with tasso and biscuits with crawfish étouffée. Click here to read more. —Maggie Heyn Richardson

Good news for those who love to have their cake and eat it, too—Blue Bell Ice Cream has introduced two new summertime flavors that cut out the cake middleman. Red Velvet Cake and Strawberry Banana Pound Cake feature two Southern favorites blended into creamy Blue Bell ice cream. Red velvet is mixed with a super-sweet cream cheese ice cream, whereas strawberry banana pound cake combines fluffy cake pieces in a tangy ice cream with fresh slices of banana and strawberry for an extra-fruity flavor. “You can’t go wrong combining two popular desserts like cake and ice cream,” says Carl Breed, marketing director for Blue Bell. “You have the best of both worlds in one half gallon.”

Two other Blue Bell favorites are also making a summertime return to grocery store shelves—Key Lime Pie and Southern Hospitality. For a complete list of the ice cream flavors now available in stores, check out bluebell.com.

If you’re someone who finds himself (or herself) overwhelmed when you belly up to the bar, you may have already availed yourself of a simple cocktail app that makes your life—and your choices—easier. The Wiki Cocktail Machine for iPhone and iPad doesn’t just help you narrow down your choices by spirit, taste preference or a random shake of the phone. It also educates you about the history of each drink, and gives you recipes for mixing them up at home. Ever wondered who the Margarita’s namesake was, or why they call it an Old Fashioned? Let the Wiki Cocktail Machine educate you, and you can blow away your friends and maybe score some extra points at trivia night with your newfound knowledge from this free app.

Six months into working in the kitchen at J. Alexander’s at age 21, Le Creolé executive chef Ryan Andre had the word “chef” tattooed on his arm. “I loved the adrenaline of being on the line and I knew it was what I wanted to do,” recalls Andre. His passion led to cooking school at the Louisiana Culinary Institute and to posts at Commander’s Palace, Stroube’s, Capital City Grill, and to Le Creolé today (Map it!), where Andre composes up-tempo interpretations of Southern and Creole classics, fresh Gulf fish and game. He will be named a 2012 Chef to Watch by Louisiana Cookin’ Magazine later this year.

The top-ranked student in his LCI class, Andre was recruited by Chef Tory McPhail to apprentice at Commander’s Palace. Two other students were chosen as well, but Andre was the only one to survive the stalwart restaurant’s grueling routine and pressure-cooker vibe. “It’s an intense kitchen—they demand perfection and if you can’t cut it, you’re out,” he says. After graduation, he remained at Commander’s and was assigned an enviable spot at the broiling station where timing and precision are high art. Andre was still living in Baton Rouge, so he left Commander’s for closer gigs at Mandina’s on Old Hammond Highway, the Broken Egg Café and the Little Village. Later, he helped fellow LCI classmate Chef Justin Ferguson open Stroube’s downtown to high acclaim for its reimagined steakhouse menu, and eventually became executive chef at the Capital City Grill. New Orleans beckoned again, however, and Andre returned to Commander’s. Click here to read the whole story. —Maggie Heyn Richardson

With Mother’s Day this weekend, you and mom can relax with a delicious dessert drink after your day out together. The Lemontini is relatively simple to whip up, with the sweet and sour flavor of lemoncello and delectable sting of vodka. You can pretty it up with a twist of lemon and a colored sugar rim for some extra-special flair. Click here for our recipe.

Mid City cool down: This Friday, you can stroll the streets of Mid City for the district’s annual spring art hop: Hot Art, Cool Nights. A celebration of the thriving Mid City area, you can buy art from tons of local artists, nosh on free food and drink, enjoy art demonstrations and generally have a grand old time. Check out more at midcitymerchants.org.

Summer rollin’: Learn to roll your own at Tsunami Sushi (Map it!) on Saturday, June 2. The experts will give you personal hands-on instructions of building, rolling and cutting two rolls—a California roll plus another regular roll of your choice. Then you get to sit back and eat the fruits of your labor with a side of edamame, miso soup and a few free gifts. Call 346-5100 to make your reservations.

“Every native of the South has been asked the same question countless times in diners, cafes and restaurants over the course of their lives,” writes 225 food blogger Maggie Heyn Richardson. “A waiter or waitress poses it at the outset of the meal for the straightforward purpose of fact-finding, but it’s a question that has the power to make us feel rooted to something homey and real.” Read this week’s Spatula Diaries to get a tea-tour of the Capital City, and let Maggie know if you prefer your tea “sweet or unsweet.”