Café Du Monde in New Orleans needs no introduction; it’s an iconic landmark, a food lover’s paradise, a legendary tourist destination… And yet I’d never even heard of it.
My wife tried to fill me in on its legendary status. “It makes the best beignets in the world,” she told me, rolling her eyes like I was a special kind of idiot.
“That sounds great,” I said. “But, um, what the heck is a beignet?”
Well, reader, if you are as ignorant of French pastries as I once was, I’ll tell you what a beignet is; it’s deep-fried choux pastry with a mountain of icing sugar on top.
In other words, a fancy French doughnut.
The ones at Café Du Monde are so famous, that it’s all it sells (well, the only food item it sells, anyway; you can also grab a wicked cup of coffee if you are so inclined). And people travel from all around to sample them.
In fact, Café Du Monde is so popular that it’s open at 800 Decatur St in the French Market 24 hours per day. We saw queues out the door during the day, so we popped in for dessert one evening and were lucky enough to snag ourselves a table fairly quickly.
And, as it turns out, I had heard of Café Du Monde before. It’s featured in the 2014 film Chef, starring Jon Favreau as a chef who starts a food truck business. In the film, the titular chef visits Café Du Monde to sample some of its famous beignets.
I couldn’t actually find the scene from the movie on You Tube, so the film trailer will have to do:
So, are the beignets really that great?
As someone who sometimes struggles to make toast, I’m not qualified to comment on the quality of Café Du Monde’s famous beignets, but I can confirm that they are in fact DELICIOUS.
That’s right. They’re so good that I felt compelled to use all caps.
The coffee was pretty damn good, too.
What: Café Du Monde (established 1862)
Where: 800 Decatur Street, New Orleans, Louisiana
Why? For the best beignets this travel blogger has ever tasted
