Bakery Review - Cafe du Monde, New Orleans

Beignets at Cafe du Monde
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

I just got back from a very quick trip to New Orleans, where I was at a meeting of the southeast and Texas chapters of the Music Library Association. I didn't manage to do many touristy things, a shame since this was my first time there, but I did wake up really early Saturday morning to fit in a trip to Cafe du Monde.

At Cafe du Monde, you can buy beignets or beignets to eat, plus a delicious cup of Cafe au Lait. The coffee is coffee with chicory, but that isn't exactly unfamiliar to me since I tend to make my iced coffee from the coffee/chicory blend from Cafe du Monde. It was still great to have it the way they prepare it!

My friend Laurie and I got there early, before the outside area was even open, so we sat inside in the original cafe. The coffee was extremely hot and the beignets were very fresh, and almost completely covered with powdered sugar. We sat on the edge of the cafe and got to look around at all the powdered-sugar-smeared faces, which was pretty funny. It is just impossible to eat without getting sugar everywhere, and despite constant cleaning the entire place seems slightly glazed.


I even had to take a picture of my leg covered with sugar. At some point I just gave in and stopped fighting it. Cafe du Monde is a New Orleans institution. My colleague Jon said that his sister told him that if he went to New Orleans without going there, he had basically failed at life.

Don't fail at life. Stop at the Cafe du Monde when you're in New Orleans. They make it easy - the original cafe a block from the Mississippi River is open 24 hours except on Christmas Day. You can sit in the cafe, the outdoor area, or purchase anything from a walk-up take-out window. You can also buy cans or bags of the coffee with chicory, but I just buy that at a local store here in Greenville so I didn't bother trying to cram any in my suitcase.

Categories: Bakery Review, Coffee