Café Du Monde, New Orleans
Every city has that one spot tourists and locals both claim as their own.
In New Orleans, it’s Café Du Monde, where powdered sugar has been coating clothes and tables since before the Civil War.
The menu hasn’t changed much, the lines haven’t shortened, and the French Quarter wouldn’t be the same without it.
Here are some interesting facts about this timeless NOLA icon.
The Fernandez family bought the café in 1942
Hubert Fernandez snagged Café Du Monde from Fred Koeniger in May 1942 while also running the Fernandez Wine Cellar across the street in the Pontalba Apartment building.
By 1972, the family decided to shut down the Wine Cellar and go all-in on the coffee shop. Three generations of Fernandez family members have kept the place running, making sure your beignets taste the same as they did decades ago.
Café Du Monde stays open 24/7 (Almost)
You can satisfy your beignet craving at 3 am, noon, or dinnertime because this place never closes—except on December 25th and when major hurricanes threaten the city.
When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the café shut down at midnight on August 27 and didn’t reopen until October 19, nearly two months later, even though it didn’t get badly damaged.
The owners used this forced vacation to fix up the eating areas and kitchens. The reopening made national news with over 100 media outlets, including ABC’s Good Morning America, covering it as a sign New Orleans was coming back to life.
A sign declaring “Beignets Are Back!” became a symbol of the city’s comeback after the devastating storm.
The menu hasn’t changed much in 160+ years
They don’t believe in menu bloat—they just do a few things really well.
When you look at the menu, you’ll see just a few items: dark-roasted coffee with chicory (black or with milk), beignets, white and chocolate milk, hot chocolate, and fresh-squeezed orange juice.
The only big menu update happened in 1988 when they added iced coffee and soft drinks.
There Were Café Du Monde Branches in Japan
After the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition in New Orleans, Japanese business folks fell in love with the place and wanted to bring it home.
The Duskin Company made it official in 1989 and opened the first Japanese locations in 1990.
At their peak, they had 32 shops across Japan in cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka.
These Japanese cafés kept the green and white color scheme and French Quarter look but added their own spin with seasonal desserts and different beignet varieties you couldn’t get in New Orleans.
One standout location was in Kyoto Station, where you could sit on a terrace overlooking the main hall of the futuristic building.
The partnership ended in 2018 when Duskin closed all their remaining locations on March 31st.
Civil War shortages made chicory coffee a New Orleans necessity
That unique coffee taste at Café Du Monde came about when Union naval blockades cut off coffee shipments during the Civil War.
People in New Orleans started mixing their limited coffee with roasted chicory root (from the endive plant) to make it last longer.
Chicory doesn’t have caffeine, but it adds a woodsy, chocolate-like flavor that actually works really well with strong coffee.
The café gets its chicory from France, specifically from a company called Leroux, to keep that traditional flavor consistent.
When mixed half-and-half with hot milk to make café au lait, it creates that signature taste you can’t get anywhere else.
Beignets became Louisiana’s official state donut in 1986
Those square pieces of fried dough covered in powdered sugar have a long history. French settlers and Acadians (later called Cajuns) brought fried pastries to Louisiana in the 1700s.
For years, Café Du Monde just called them “doughnuts” until 1958, when they rebranded them as “beignets” to play up their French roots. In 1986, Louisiana made it official by declaring beignets the state donut.
These sweet treats have ancient origins—some food historians trace them back to ancient Rome’s scriblita, a dough fried in animal fat. The word “beignet” comes from the Celtic word “bigne,” which means “to raise,” and doubles as the French word for “fritter.”
Today, you get three beignets per order, always hot, always covered in way too much powdered sugar.
Vietnamese refugees created a surprising connection to Café Du Monde
After the Vietnam War in the 1970s, many Vietnamese refugees moved to New Orleans because the climate, wetlands, and fishing industry reminded them of home.
They started working at Café Du Monde in the 70s and 80s, where they noticed the chicory coffee was similar to the French-style coffee they knew from Vietnam.
These employees started making the coffee with condensed milk and sharing it with friends and family across the country.
When café management caught on to this trend, they started selling their coffee in Vietnamese grocery stores nationwide.
Now, Café Du Monde coffee is the top choice for Vietnamese iced coffee in restaurants all over America.
You’ll now find nine Café Du Monde locations around New Orleans
For 123 years, there was just one Café Du Monde in the French Quarter.
Then in 1985, they opened a second spot in the Esplanade Mall.
Fast forward to today, and you can get your beignet fix at nine different locations throughout the New Orleans area: the original in the French Market, plus spots at Riverwalk Marketplace, Lakeside Mall, Oakwood Mall, Veterans Boulevard, Mandeville, Covington, City Park, and the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
You can also order their coffee and beignet mix online if you want to try making them at home.
The post The Beloved French Quarter Café Serving Beignets, Chicory Coffee & NOLA History Since 1862 appeared first on When In Your State.