Café Du Monde

Café Du Monde is an open-air coffee stand on the edge of Jackson Square in the French Quarter, and it has been serving exactly two things — beignets and café au lait — for over 160 years. It's not trying to be anything else, and that commitment to simplicity is exactly what makes it iconic. The café au lait is made with strong chicory coffee blended with hot milk, a New Orleans tradition inherited from French and Creole culture. The beignets are hot, pillowy squares of fried dough buried under a blizzard of powdered sugar. You will get that sugar on your clothes. Everyone does.

The experience is wonderfully unpretentious. You sit at green-and-white striped tables under a covered arcade that opens onto Decatur Street and the Mississippi River levee beyond. Waitstaff move fast and don't linger — this is a high-volume operation that's been running like clockwork for generations. Order at the table, your beignets arrive hot and dusted, and you eat them while watching the street performers, the tourists, the locals on their way to work. On weekend mornings, a jazz band often plays just outside in Jackson Square, and the whole scene feels like an accidental movie set.

The lines can be long, especially on weekend mornings and after dinner when the French Quarter crowd needs a sugar fix. The best strategy is to arrive early on a weekday, or late on a weeknight when the crowds thin out. The café is essentially open all day every day — it only closes for major storms and the occasional holiday — so there's almost always a window. Sit outside if you can; the indoor section works fine but misses the point entirely.