Eats: Cafe du Monde

A few weeks ago, I traveled with a group of my best girl friends to New Orleans for one of their bachelorette weekends. This was a group consisting of some of my greatest friends in the world who I only get the chance to see a few times a year due to our unique and adventurous lifestyles - I'm very lucky to have best friends who not only support my sometimes wacky life choices, but each carve their own unique path of life. Something I like to call being "yes" people. That being said, this weekend was a special one. It's impossible to get together and have more than a minute's pause from laughter other than when we're sleeping.

While in the Big Easy, we hit the goldmine of B's

the Bride.

Besties.

Booze.

Bourbon St.

Beyoncé.

and BEIGNETS...

...from none other than the historic and wildly popular Cafe du Monde in the heart of the French Quarter.

It's nearly impossible to discuss a New Orleans trip without a mention of Cafe du Monde. While it's open 24 hours a day, the line often winds down the street in the busy and touristy Jackson Square, which can be a little daunting. Long lines + big groups + August heat index = sounds pretty miserable for some glorified bread covered in sugar right? WRONG. 

Not only did the monstrous looking line not take nearly as long as we thought (we waited 30 minutes, if even), those dough babies were worth every second. It first opened as a coffee stand in 1862, and have stuck true to the philosophy "If it 'aint broke don't fix it" - even with the crowds and the tables and the gift shop, it still very much functions as if it was a mere coffee stand.

Saint Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square is caddy corner to Cafe du Monde. Not a  bad spot, eh?

HOW IT WORKS:

1. When you reach the front of the line, pay attention. You'll most likely be flagged down by an employee cleaning off a table that was given up seconds ago, urging you to come take your seat. This location consists of round bistro-style tables underneath a large covered area with plenty of fans to keep you cool. If you're in a big group you are welcome to push tables together once they are available.

2. They sell beignets, coffee, and water. The end. Which makes ordering pretty simple! The only decisions you need to make is if you want your coffee black, au lait, or iced, and how many beignets you want (they come in orders of 3). 

3. You order everything all at once and when your waiter/waitress comes back with all of your food, you pay before it is served to you. I can't remember the exact price of each product, but I know that for seven hungry gals, the total was under $60. Definitely can't complain there! 

4. Snap a pic for Instagram and dive right in. Fair warning: you will get powdered sugar all over the place – go with it.

We each went with our own personal order of beignets (when in Rome, ya know), I went with an iced Cafe Au Lait which is not my normal go-to plain black coffee, but I was in desperate need of something cold, and man did it hit the spot. Creamy without being too milky, the coffee was not too bold nor too light. 

Oh, you want to know about the beignets? The perfect golden rectangle of snow-covered dough that was crisp without being too crunchy, soft without being soggy, sweet without giving you a headache, perfectly complimented by their coffee. What more could you ask for?