Beignets and Chicory Coffee -- Cafe Beignet, New Orleans, LA
Before
arriving in New Orleans, if asked how many famous cafes there are in
the French Quarter who are specifically known for their beignets, Vodka
an Whiskey Sour would have answered "one": Cafe du Monde.
 |
| Point Us in the Direction of the Fried Dough |
In fact, even
after researching the NEW ORLEANS Best Thing I Ever Ate locales and
discovering that Alton Brown recommended a cafe serving beignets and
chicory coffee, and even after writing the name of said cafe on the
itinerary, it still does not dawn on us that we are going anywhere other
than Cafe du Monde.
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| Seven Minutes Into Our First Full Day in New Orleans, and Naturally, We Are Confused |
We are not. We are going to a location called Cafe Beignet.
 |
| Well, Fancy Seeing You Here |
Our
confusion is only heightened when Ginger sends a decree to Vodka with
the recommendation to "preserve ample time for consuming beignets at
Cafe Beaumont." Beaumont?! How many cafes does this place have?
 |
| So Many Donuts, So Little Time |
As
we are walking out of our hotel en route to Cafe Whatever, Vodka is
frantically googling to see which of the 97 beignet options we are
actually supposed to be eating. ("Worst case scenario," Whiskey Sour
pipes up in the midst of this, "we end up with multiple donuts.")
 |
| And Also Multiple Breakfast Cocktails |
Finding
that our itinerary was right all along, we head off to Cafe Beignet at
7:45am, as we have been led to believe they open at 8:00am. When we
arrive, we find the place already packed, meaning that for the 2.5 hours
we have been awake twiddling our thumbs (thank you, time change), we
could have been eating donuts.
 |
| Such a Wasted Pastry-Based Opportunity |
Thankfully, we
are still able to snag a table as we await our delivery of three
beignets and one chicory coffee. As Whiskey Sour notes, the place is
"not one for dishware," as the cafe is awash in disposable products,
most laden with powdered sugar.
 |
| BYOP = Bring Your Own Plate |
Thankfully, our beignets arrive within
minutes, and we dive in with the ravenous hunger of people who hadn't
downed multiple bowls of gnocchi mere hours before.
 |
| We Enjoy Dough in All Forms |
And these beignets, they are quite good.
 |
| The Second-Best Kind of Cheersing |
Not
as sweet as we had been expecting (in a very good way), they have an
excellent texture: doughy but not heavy, and fried to perfection. The
cake itself is buttery by sight, and even with the onslaught of
sugar, the whole affair is surprisingly light.
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| Good Thing, Because This Is Only Our FIRST Scheduled Breakfast of the Day |
At
first, just because the beignets didn't produce the same immediate gut
reaction that the gnocchi had, we're tempted to give them 4 stars,
figuring that should we return to New Orleans, we'd want to try one of
the other cafe's varieties instead. But after seeing (albeit not
tasting) Cafe du Monde's donuts, we're persuaded to think that Cafe
Beignet's really might be preferable. And plus, we find ourselves
thinking about them multiple times throughout the coming days, bemoaning
the fact that we hadn't stashed away an order for later.
 |
| Always Take Coffee, Booze, and Donuts To Go |
For
better or worse, Vodka's only previous beignet experience was in the
Port Orleans hotel of Disney World, and for obvious reasons, Cafe
Beignet's blows the theme park version out of the fryer. They are
especially great when cut with the bitterness of the cup of coffee, and
as Whiskey Sour finds upon dousing her face with a handful of the
leftover sugar, the beignets truly are good to the last crumb.
 |
| And The Coffee Good to the Last Drop |
Perhaps proving that any day that begins with a fistful of donuts really is the best case scenario come to life.
Cafe Beignet's Beignets and Chicory Coffee: 5 stars*
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