Beignet All Day

There is so much more to New Orleans than the French Quarter! Book a Garden District Food & History tour with Bon Moment to enjoy beignets, other great dishes & small business shopping!

A history as long as the lines outside of Cafe DuMonde, the beignet is a French dessert, brought by those colonists to our first neighborhood- the Vieux Carre ("old square", the original name for the French Quarter)- and accompanied after-dinner cafe au lait. Traditionally, they were made with choux pastry, but a yeast dough is the style familiar to most present-day beignet buffs. So how has the beignet become so loved?

Aside from Disney fans who want to try Tiana's recipe in Princess and the Frog, a beignet's charm is the experience of Cafe Du Monde. Black & white tiles, staff in paper hats, Mississippi river breeze and heavy white coffee cups of cafe au lait are what draw people to Cafe du Monde. Like so much of New Orleans, it's the charm of a moment captured in time past- please be sure to tip staff generously.

Before they were yeast donuts, they were delicate pastries for the colonial upper class Creoles. Frying choux pastry creates a steam pocket, making the beignet light & airy. The beignet was sometimes sold on the river front by slave women who worked in houses in the French Quarter, while doing daily shopping. Dock workers and other river laborers wanted a snack that was sweet, high calorie and fast. The same women also saved leftover rice from dinner and made dough from that when flour was rationed or rare- these treats, of fried yeasted rice fritters, were called Calas, and were almost lost to history. Today they can be found in Jewel of the South and Elizabeth's Restaurant.

Where to Eat Them

I take my Garden District food tours to a special shop to show off the modern creativity and growth expressed in our traditional foods- there's a matcha bavarian creme beignet, a super sweet s'mores beignet, and seasonal flavors like the recent Irish Coffee (a whiskey-infused cold brew cream anglaise filling) to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, so book today!

If the line at Cafe du Monde is too long or you want to try somewhere else in the Quarter, Cafe Beignet is a good bet- the location on Bourbon St sits in Legends park, a courtyard tribute to some great local musicians, and if the outdoor seating and live music weren't enough, there's great people watching (there's also a small cafe location on Royal St). If you are in City Park, you can hit the other, less crowded and touristy location of Cafe du Monde- it's a 5 minute walk from the NOMA art museum and is a really beautiful spot (shout out to Morning Call). Loretta's praline filled beignets are sold in both the French Market and the shop in Treme.

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