Amateur Gourmet – Cafe du Monde (New Orleans)

Ahhhhh… Cafe Du Monde, rich dark creamy cafe au lait with enough punch to have the spoon hop outta your cup and kick it up. Years ago I decided that New Orleans was a must for me. There is truthfully no place in North America that can really compare. The food, the people, the history, the food, the mystery, the lore, the architecture, the music and in case I didn’t mention the food is sinful! Unfortunately, when I was a teen I made a promise to my Mom that I wouldn’t go to Mardi Gras but after Katrina leveled the city I knew I needed to help anyway I could. Beyond helping out charities I figured just going to visit and spending all my money there for a few weeks would be beneficial to both the local economy as well as meeting a life long dream of going to the big easy. I kept my promise to Mom about Mardi Gras but  I did not say anything about going during Halloween.

So, in 2007 my sister and I made our first pilgrimage to New Orleans. We ending up going every fall for 3 years in a row. We’ve dined at some of the hoitiest-toitiest restaurants as well as some of the most under-rated ones. Through it all though Cafe du Monde is a must as often as possible every trip, especially after a night of drinking bottles of Pirate Alley’s Toxic Baby Shots until they kicked us out and we wobbled down the alley, through Jackson Square and into the cafe’s outdoor patio. The chicory coffee never stops flowing and the air is always a little hazy, but not from the heat and humidity, from powdered sugar. They really only serve a handful of items: Coffee, Cafe au Lait, Iced Coffee, chocolate milk and Beignets with mountains of powdered sugar heaped on top. This was one of the first places to open again in the Quarter after the flood waters receded. Inspiration for our Cafe du Monde Cupcake, rich and strong Chicory Coffee Cupcake with vanilla butter cream all topped off with a mini Beignet dusted with powdered sugar was born out of our many a trips to New Orleans and this special place.

So here is a review from Amateur Gourmet, for those of you who have been to Cafe du Monde let us know if you agree/disagree with their review.