On Perkins Road next to Trader Joe’s, La Divina Italian Cafe stands as an anomaly. The space isn’t just a restaurant, but it’s more than a café. While they’re known for their gelato, La Divina sells more food than gelaterias typically do.
Co-owners Mary and Lance LeBlanc opened the place 12 years ago in Baton Rouge when they were looking for a pivot. Lance LeBlanc was in the auction business, and he traveled a lot for work. He was ready to be at home more. Mary LeBlanc was in media, and she eventually quit her job to be at La Divina full-time. They both like to joke that they traded their nine-to-fives for 24/7s.
The LeBlancs didn’t initially offer the full menu that they have today. But when they opened in 2013, around the same time as Trader Joe’s, people started coming in and making requests, Lance LeBlanc recalled: “Can you make pasta? What about spaghetti? Lasagna? Well, if you have pasta, you gotta have wine.”
A raspberry tiramisu gelato pictured at La Divina on Thursday, May 29, 2025.
Javier Gallegos
Today, La Divina serves a breakfast menu, pizza, paninis, select Italian entrées like stuffed portobello mushrooms, a house blend of Orleans Roasters coffee and 24 flavors of gelato.
“ There’s not a lot of places in town you can go get pizza at eight o’clock in the morning,” said Lance LeBlanc. “But we are one of them.”
They also make mimosas or affogatos with their gelato. Customers are passionate about their favorite gelato flavors like the Aztec chocolate, which features dark chocolate mixed with cinnamon and cayenne pepper.
History of La Divina
La Divina was started in New Orleans by Carmelo Turillo and his wife, Katrina. He was teaching abroad in Spain in the early 2000s, when Spain’s economy was booming, and he noticed a pattern: his MBA students were graduating and starting businesses of their own the year after his class.
Carmelo Turillo, founder of La Divina, is now a lecturer at Tulane.
PROVIDED PHOTO
“The first semester that happened, I was really proud of my students,” Carmelo Turillo said. “The second semester it happened, I was like ‘This is interesting.’ And by the third semester, I was like, ‘You know what? I kind of want to start a business.’”
He was making gelato at home as a hobby, and he decided to make it a profession, so he enrolled in a gelato-making class. There were two tracks: one that was a combination between Spanish and Italian, and another in English. The Spanish/Italian one fit his schedule better, so he enrolled.
Later, he discovered that the two classes were completely different. The former taught students to make gelato from scratch, the latter taught people to make gelato using a pre-packaged mix.
“It’s really difficult in the U.S. to make things from scratch because our laws aren’t made for it,” he explained. “The dairy laws in the U.S. all come from World War II, so what’s legal for pasteurization is all based on 1940s technology.”
Lance LeBlanc scopes out raspberry tiramisu gelato at La Divina on Thursday, May 29, 2025.
Javier Gallegos
This should have been a problem when he brought his gelato to the U.S., but it happened to be right after Hurricane Katrina.
When the Turillos called the Milk and Dairy Unit of the New Orleans Department of Health about the business plan, they agreed. There were other hurdles to cross, but he eventually opened his gelateria, and in 2012, Mary and Lance LeBlanc approached him to open another location in Baton Rouge.
For a while, the LeBlancs bought gelato from Carmelo Turillo in New Orleans, but they couldn’t keep up with demand and outsourced production — still with his recipes.
A look at the 24 different gelato flavors at La Divina on Thursday, May 29, 2025.
Javier Gallegos
These days, Carmelo Turillo is out of the gelato business, which required long hours and early mornings. The day-to-day work of running any business that sells food requires a lot of behind-the-scenes work. He still makes gelato as a hobby, but La Divina in Baton Rouge is the only La Divina in Louisiana.
Community space
The store’s prime location near Trader Joe’s and unique hybrid niche make it the perfect place to host community events like live music, open mic nights and mahjong. As one of the city’s only brick-and-mortar gelato places, La Divina is also a popular stop for tourists or road trippers who want a quick, local stop close to the highway.
Those who look carefully at the walls will notice rotating local artists on display. For each artist, La Divina typically hosts a reception complete with wine and hors d’oeuvres. In May, the LeBlancs took a break from professional artists and instead displayed art by students from St. Aloysius Catholic School. They’ll have a reception on June 11 that will feature gelato and lemonade.
Patrons at La Divina play Mahjong.
PROVIDED PHOTO
Whenever they can, the LeBlancs source their ingredients locally: fresh milk from Feliciana Farms, ciabatta loaves from Poupart Bakery in Lafayette and coffee from Orleans Roasters in New Orleans.
“ We really feel like we represent local,” Mary LeBlanc said.
For locals, the space has become a familiar stop on people’s commutes, a fun treat after a Trader Joe’s run, or just a place to come together with friends and family. Karen Eddlemon said she’s been visiting the shop for at least 10 years and has started playing Mahjong there on the first Wednesday of every month.
Amanda Carlin, chief marketing officer at architecture firm DNA Workshop and a regular at La Divina, knows the store as one of the only places in town where she can order a latte without sugar and still have it satisfy her.
“Two mornings a week, I make an excuse to go the long way to work to stop and get a latte,” she said.
La Divina, 3535 Perkins Road Suite 360, Baton Rouge, is open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.