The best Beignets in New Orleans are actually in Baton Rouge

Saw this oldish article and I thought I'd share it here. This isn't to have a pissing contest over a highly subjective decision like where you can get the best beignets in Louisiana.

It's to question why an institution like Coffee Call has stuck to their location in a sad looking strip mall off College drive, which is an area known more for chain restaurants, big box stores, and hotels.

quote:

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The Best Beignets in New Orleans Are in Baton Rouge

In a strip mall on the outskirts of the state capital, Coffee Call is the hero we need right now.




LINK

What you need to know about Coffee Call is that it is everything you want from your first visit to New Orleans, everything that you want from your first experience with the iconic local breakfast (or anytime snack) of café au lait and beignets. The coffee is coffee-chicory, as has been the style for the longest time—rich and strong, and freshly roasted in-house; with the addition of sticky, hot milk, you could almost stand your spoon up in the diner mug that you will drink it from. Beignets, or beignet fingers, and you will try both and decide which one is right for you, nearly always come out fried to order; very hot, cooked through precisely, not a hint of frying oil clinging to them, and with a nice bit of chew that speaks to fermentation, and to somebody giving a damn about the dough.

For a coffee, which comes with a free refill if you are staying, and you ought to, just to get everything that's coming to you, along with a small portion of fried dough, which is not so small at all, you will pay something just over five dollars, and there will be no tourists around you, and at certain times of the day only a few other patrons sneaking in for a treat, and you will wonder, why is everyone not here, why is this not the most famous place for coffee and donuts in New Orleans, except that if you are here, you already know the answer to that. Coffee Call isn't located in New Orleans at all; you will find it an hour away, traffic permitting, in Louisiana's capital city, Baton Rouge, in an otherwise very average strip mall on the southwestern edge of the town.

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Not sure how true this is...but I do agree that Coffee Call is a treasure that is far better than it's current location in a strip mall behind a poorly maintained parking lot next to an Office Depot. It's current spot seems more appropriate for a Mattress Firm or some fast casual place like a Chipotle.

Even when their old location next to K&B drugstore (and Little Wars) was demolished to make room for a Wal Mart, they only moved a couple of hundred yards down the street.

Should Coffee Call move to a better, more distinctive location with more seating? They are frequently very crowded and they can use the space. But maybe moving it will ruin it?