New Orleans Day Trip

New Orleans Day Trip

My day job had us overnighting in New Orleans for 19 hours. Once again, our hotel was in a primo location! Near the airport and car lots and auto repair shops and warehouses. One of my crew had an Uber discount code, so we spent the afternoon downtown in the French Quarters.

New Orleans has a flavor all its own. Flavorful people. A flavorful vibe in the air. But, one of its best flavors are the foods.

               Our first stop was Café du Monde for beignets and café au lait.

There was a window on the side alley where you can watch these wonderful little fritters being made. The window was splattered with flour and there’s a glare, but you’ll see how it’s done.

      He takes a lump of dough and flops it on the conveyor you see below.

It rolls to the right, up over that ledge and gets squashed flat between a form, then pressed under a mold, before sliding out the other side in a sheet of squares.

Which they flip off the table into their hands, stacked 3-4 high, then without ever turning around, toss them underhanded behind them into the fryer. Grease splashes to the back on stainless shields and slides back down into the fryer.

Where they are fried to a perfect, golden brown. Soft on the inside, crispy on the outside.

And become these wonderful pillows of mouth-melting, powdered-sugared heaven.

And we ate every one.

We were downtown six hours tops, but there was so much to see, it felt much longer. Soon, I’ll tell you about the flavors of some of the people we saw.