Cafe Du Monde, Snack, New Orleans
July 26, 2016
P&J:
Cafe au Lait
Iced Cafe au Lait
Beignets
Notes:
What's a trip to New Orleans without chicory coffee and beignets? Our stay in New Orleans was very short, so we only had time to score this perfect any-time treat at one place (lots of great beignet shops to check out these days), and because we weren't sure where else to find chicory coffee, Cafe Du Monde was it.
The place is overly crowded and the wait is long. But in the end, so worth it. The beignets, rectangular, poofy pockets of fried dough, are fresh, piping hot and heaped with
an excessive amount of just enough powdered sugar. And the chicory coffee? Delicious, just like I remembered.
Shortly after we received our coffee and beignets, the rain came. We sat in the outdoor, but covered, cafe and watched as the downpour grayed the skies and flooded the streets. Lightning flashed every now and again; the sound of the rain pummeling concrete and asphalt echoed through the patio. The scent in the air was clean and satisfying. Once the rain let up, just a bit, we scampered away from the cafe, in the direction of our next destination, completely drenched by the time we reached it. This was one of Patrick's favorite days, ever.
I have a couple of significant memories* attached to this place, and with this experience, another. I'd like to come back for more.
*When I was a teenager, I became truly obsessed with food. My G'ma will tell you that's how it always was; she loves to tell stories about me as a kid, imitating Julia Child. But it was the once-outstanding Food Network, which started up shortly before I graduated high school that solidified the way I thought about my future, and that future was food. My parents, in what seemed to be an encouraging gesture, decided to take me on a road trip to New Orleans to visit a restaurant of one of my favorite TV chef personalities, Emeril Lagasse (this was well before we all tired of the "BAM!"). While impossible to get a reservation at his eponymous restaurant, his seemingly less formal NOLA was available to us that one summer. It was then, over 20 years ago, when I had my first fine-dining experience, my first tasting menu, my first soft-shell crab. And!! My first beignets at Cafe Du Monde, where I also had the best coffee I'd tasted since I visited Paris with my Mom and G'ma, just a year or so before**.
**In seventh grade I had to choose a language class - French or Spanish. My Dad told me he'd one day send me to whichever country spoke the language I chose to learn. I knew he wasn't completely serious, but I foolishly chose French anyway (Spanish would have been entirely more useful). Several years later, and a junior in High School, I had the opportunity to visit Paris with my Mom and G'ma. (Though unassociated with my Dad's "offer" so many years prior, I always like to remember this story in this way.) We stayed at a quaint little hotel which offered breakfast in a tiny room below the lobby serving fresh, crusty bread, sweet butter and jam with coffee or tea. Each morning, on our way down the narrow steps to the very small, wood-paneled room, a gentleman behind the front desk would simply ask, "Cafe ou the?" [phonetically - "Cafe oo tay?"] I didn't remember much French (my interest in the subject heavily waned in high school and I had dropped it by this time), but I loved saying "cafe" in my best French accent; I felt so grown up, so cosmopolitan. And I didn't even like coffee. But somehow, I fell in love with that French coffee, and that perfectly simple French breakfast. I never could find coffee that tasted quite like it did at that hotel in Paris, until I found the chicory coffee at Cafe Du Monde.
