Cafe Beignet in New Orleans, LA

When I walked by a place called Cafe Beignet on Royal Street in the French Quarter in New Orleans, I decided to stop in. I had sampled beignets from Cafe Du Monde a couple of days earlier and wanted to get beignets somewhere else in New Orleans to compare.

Cafe Beignet was in a cool little brick building. It was long and narrow with low, arched ceilings.

Cafe Beignet had signs hanging on the wall proudly announcing that they were featured on Food Network's Best Thing I Ever Ate with Alton Brown.

I did a little Youtube searching and found the segment from the show that featured Cafe Beignet. Alton Brown endorsed beignets are probably good beignets, right?

I didn't get the proper beignet accompaniment and get chicory coffee. I instead ordered a chai latte to drink. It was pretty standard.

Then it was time to try the beignets! I'm sorry to disagree with Alton Brown, but I preferred the beignets from Cafe Du Monde. The beignets here were much denser than the fluffy beignets that Cafe Du Monde served. Not to say that these weren't good. I think it would be hard to mess up a beignet too badly, but if I had to choose, fluffy beignets would beat dense beignets.

Cafe du Monde in New Orleans, LA

I decided I needed to take a trip to New Orleans. My one and only experience with the city happened several years ago and was way too short. So short that I don't count it as a visit to the city. I have heard all sorts of good things about New Orleans, including good things about the food. All of which I really didn't experience last time I was there. After I've had thoughts of the city brewing in the back of my head for a few years now, I finally took a detour during a trip to Atlanta and made New Orleans happen. I do not regret my decision at all. My very first foodie experience upon arriving in the city is perhaps one of the most famous/touristy. I had breakfast at Cafe Du Monde.

Cafe Du Monde is known for the beignets and coffee. They are located in the French Quarter inside of a shopping area known as the French Market.

I split an order of three beignets and tried their Cafe au Lait. The beignets were light and puffy, covered in powdered sugar. These beignets seemed to have many more air bubbles compared to some of the other beignets I've had in the past, which made them less doughnut like. I'm not a coffee connoisseur, so I find it hard to discern one type of coffee from another. This cafe au lait was made with Cafe du Monde's chicory coffee, although I had a hard time detecting flavors not present in other coffees. I did enjoy dipping the beignets into the coffee, sweetening the drink with all the powdered sugar.

I did enjoy my food at Cafe du Monde. The beignets were among the best I've had and it was a good welcome to New Orleans.

LA Boiling Crab in Orlando, FL

I had lunch at LA Boiling Crab in the Mills-50 District of Orlando. Surrounded by Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants, this place specialized in New Orleans style po boy sandwiches, crawfish, crabs, and other types of seafood. 

I ordered the soft shell crab po boy. This sandwich was filled with fried soft shell crab, lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayonnaise. It was served on a French baguette with a nice, crispy crust. The crab was very tender and the batter that it was fried in had plenty of flavor.

I shared an order of beignets for dessert. These four fried fritters were topped with plenty of powdered sugar. They were light and airy on the inside. They may be a type of doughnut, but beignets aren't just any doughnut. Beignets are the official state doughnut of Louisiana! An appropriate end to a meal at a restaurant with LA in the name.

I had fun at LA Boiling Crab. It had been a while since I've eaten Cajun food, so having a po boy and beignets was enjoyable. At some point I want to return here and try some of their crawfish and crabs which smelled delicious as I was eating.