Dunking Late-Night Beignets at Café du Monde in New Orleans
Before, during, or after a long night of carousing in New Orleans -- a city that truly never sleeps -- refuel on dark-roasted chicory coffee and freshly deep-fried beignets at the 24-hour Café du Monde in the French Market. At 4 a.m., the open-air café looks like the abandoned battleground of a raucous powdered sugar fight, but doughnuts and coffee never tasted so good. Is it a tourist destination? Absolutely. Do locals continue to go there regardless? Absolutely!
If you could take just one photo:
laughing, powdered-sugar covered faces
Bite into a puff of Café du Monde’s famous deep fried dough, and send sugar clouds floating through the weak morning breeze. Laugh at your companion’s snow white chin and greasy lips, while you grapple in the paper bag for another beignet and send powdered sugar all down your pants leg. Unless you mind sunshine, park bench slats slicing your derriere, or the occasional whiff of Mississippi, don’t wait an hour for an inside table at this always-packed French Quarter institution. Saunter instead around back to the take-out counter, thank the gregarious aproned lady for the plump bag of pastries and the styrofoam cups brimming with chicory-laced café au lait. Then find a seat next door in Jackson Square—at the heart of the French quarter--and watch as artists set up their easels, jugglers practice, and tour guides point out the Cabildo, the formal symmetry of St Louis Cathedral, and the way the statue of Andrew Jackson seems to gaze back towards the café, as if longing for just one more bite of beignet.
Wade through steamy heat, wait in a long line and eventually sit at a small sticky table under Cafe du Monde's famous striped awning. A waiter will eventually arrive to clean off your table and take your order. Take a deep breath while you wait. No one’s in a hurry here so you shouldn’t be either. Look at the chattering tourists around you, all with flushed faces, powdered sugar dusted shirts and piles of shopping bags. If you listen closely, you’ll hear 4 languages at the 6 tables right near you.
When your order arrives, pick up a beignet, knock off a pound of powdered sugar and bite. Note the powdered sugar dust that speckles your front but don't bother to brush it off. Your next bite will just add more. Wash it down with bittersweet sips of your café au lait.
Repeat. Relax.
Welcome to the Big Easy.
A cocktail dinner can go beyond delectably sensuous, when the allure of alder smoke with a hint of serrano caresses your palate... when a sip of cognac with cointreau sets your heart a-flame. And then your spirit swoons to the taste of red beans and quail, stuffed with the strong but savory black-rice pudding. It’s like a banquet with muses, an orchestra of libidinous pulses. You fall into the ecstasy of an unrivaled tradition—a particularly southern affair—sweet relations with the waiters, the soul of the dining room leaning intimately into warm conversations. The feast spans the evening sky into morning, hours passing—your ice ever crisp, your drink always fresh—between Café Adelaide and the Swizzle Stick bar at the Loews Hotel in New Orleans.
A destination for anyone sane who finds themselves this close to the Bayou. As you make the short trek from the French Quarter to Cafe Du Monde the smell of coffee and pastries attach to your nose and cause your tummy to growl. Once inside be prepared to get hungry. You will likely have to endure watching others enjoy their feast while you wait in line. I promise the noise, tourists, hunger pains and drool will be worth it once you bite into a warm, powder sugary beignet and sip an amazingly smooth deep rich coffee. Nothing is better.
Cafe du Monde is a historical relic in the French Quarter that beckons with a fresh-baked pastry aroma that intertwines with the humidity settling over the Mississippi River. Your mouth waters within a few hundred feet of the cafe and your taste buds crave the addictive combination of a cafe au lait and a hot beignet. Our two kids (5 and 7) live for Saturday mornings in the Quarter—they talk about beignets all week long and how many they can eat at one sitting. The oldest always has his pockets full of change for "Mojo" the dancing and performing dog and our youngest is in constant search of the lady who will paint her face into a lion or a butterfly with her magical colors. Inevitably, we will leave a few hours later, covered in a sticky white powder dust and with our sweet tooth satisfied and already wondering how many beignets we will eat next Saturday.
When visiting New Orleans, it's easy to tire of all the hubbub of downtown and the French Quarter. Wouldn't it be great to escape to your Auntie's kitchen? Catch the Algiers Ferry across the muddy Mississippi. It's a free trip, and the view of Downtown New Orleans from the river is impressive. Aunt Leni's Cafe and Market is only a short walk from the ferry landing. Checked oilcloths cover the tables, and Aunt Leni makes the most spectacular homemade focaccia bread. But, like your momma used to say, "don't fill up on the bread." There are loads of tasty morsels on the menu as well as free and local reading material. Take it easy. No one rushes you out the door.
Before, during, or after a long night of carousing in New Orleans -- a city that truly never sleeps -- refuel on dark-roasted chicory coffee and freshly deep-fried beignets at the 24-hour Café du Monde in the French Market. At 4 a.m., the open-air café looks like the abandoned battleground of a raucous powdered sugar fight, but doughnuts and coffee never tasted so good. Is it a tourist destination? Absolutely. Do locals continue to go there regardless? Absolutely!
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