Bocage Bee & Honey, Uprooted

by Sydney Blanchard

Each month, our Uprooted series will highlight local chefs, restaurants, organizations, and farmers who are spearheading the farm-to-table and local foodways movements in South Louisiana.

Bocage Bee & Honey often have up to 20 different varietals of honey on hand. Photo courtesy of Bocage Bee & Honey.

Milou Barry can't stand to walk down the honey aisle at Albertsons.

Bottles in the shape of bears or honeycombs filled with thick, golden liquid line the shelves in the well-lit grocery chain. It's not a sight that would incense a normal passer-by, but Barry, co-owner and marketer of Bocage Bee & Honey, finds it hard to tolerate.

Many brands of honey on the shelves, Barry said, contain added sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, rendering the label "honey" inaccurate.

"It's illegal!" Barry said, and she makes sure to tell the manager so every time.

Barry's passion for honey began when she met Bocage Bee & Honey co-owner and beekeeper Elizabeth Holloway. The women met through mutual friends and immediately clicked.

When Barry first tried Holloway's backyard Meyer lemon honey, she was hooked.

In 2009, Barry, with a background in restaurants and catering, and Holloway, who was formerly deeply involved in New York theatre, became business partners, selling varietals of honey collected across five parishes at the Red Stick Farmers Market each Saturday.

Each honey varietal's flavor is affected by a number of factors, like the seasons, weather conditions, and a hive's proximity to different pollens. Like wine, honey from the same location may taste differently year after year. Similarly, honeys can be complex in flavor, with notes of berry, sugarcane, and vanilla, and vary in smoothness. Their Old Bridge varietal, harvested from the meadows at the base of the old Mississippi River bridge, is their most popular to date.

Soon, the pair were dealing in more than honey. They began selling candles, lotions, and what they call "Verry Carefully Burnt Honey," the dark, syrupy result of accidentally cooking honey for too long.

Along with increasing their brand awareness and partnering with restaurants like Commanders Palace in New Orleans who use their honeycomb, Barry and Holloway also became familiar with peoples' misperceptions about bees and honey (according to Barry and Holloway, there are no studies that prove ingesting local honey combats allergies).

"I tell people, 'a garden without bees is a poor garden indeed,'" Barry said. "Bees are gentle, non- aggressive creatures who do much more for us than we do for them."

According to Barry, people tend to be unnecessarily terrified of bees and see them as backyard pests, but bees won't bother you unless you bother them, she said.

Due to a number of factors, including irrational fear of these gentle pollinators, honeybee populations have faced an alarmingly steep decline in numbers over the last few years. 

Barry and Holloway, along with the EPA, believe that chemicals in pesticides used in farming along with weed killers are effectively poisoning honeybees, rendering them confused and often unable to return to their hive. 

"There is a huge dichotomy around us," Barry said."The farmer makes his living tending his fields, but then he sprays them with poisons to kill the things that destroy his plants, and kills the very things who make it abundant in the process."

When local bees flourish, so does local produce. Without local bees and pollinators doing their job, not only will there be no honey, but there will be nothing left to eat.

Barry said saving the bees starts in our own backyards.

Bee hive removed from a tree. Photo courtesy of Bocage Bee & Honey.

"In order to save the bees, and all pollinators, each yard must become a sanctuary," Barry said.

That means giving up chemical weed killers and learning to pull them up by hand and enlisting the help of flowering plants, grasses, and edibles like fruit trees to attract pollinators like honeybees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, and more. 

Saving the bees won't happen overnight.

"If you cannot see several bees during the spring and summer days, and if you never see a few moths flitting around, or there are no little blinking lights flashing on a warm evening, there is a good chance your yard has been poisoned," Barry said.

Barry said it may take a few months of rains and careful tending to repair the damage, and it takes a whole neighborhood to follow the plan to revive their natural neighborhood.

"Everyone needs to remember, trees are the natural habitat of bees," Barry said. "If you see a swarm of bees in your tree, please do not call an exterminator. Thank Mother Nature for blessing your yard with the creatures who will keep it alive and well."

Read more Uprooted here:

Nino's Italian, Uprooted
Indie Plate, Uprooted
Red Stick Farmers Market, Uprooted
Iverstine Family Farms, Uprooted
Murder Point Oysters, Uprooted
Southern Foodways Alliance, Uprooted
Fullness Farms, Uprooted

Louisiana Seafood, Uprooted

Month of Salads: Nino's Italian

by Blair "B-Rex" Loup

Unlike my two counterparts, I embrace the Month of Salads with open arms. I am a long-time lover of vegetables, and I can go to town on a salad.

The Grilled Heart salad at Nino's Italian in Baton Rouge, LA

Maybe I just haven't lived enough life, but this is the only time someone's brought a steak knife to the table for my salad.

Nino's Italian is known for its fresh, in-house pastas and Chef/Owner Elton Hyndman's dedication to the local slow food movement, but when I think of Nino's, their Grilled Heart salad is the first thing on my mind.

Grilling the heart of Romaine gives it that grill taste: not charred, but charred-esque. Drizzled with a local honey and goat cheese dressing, salted with the hearty Pancetta, and topped with sharp Parmesan cheese, the warm Grilled Heart salad is worthy of love, even for the salad skeptic who considers greens to be rabbit food (looking at you Jay Ducote).

Juban's Honey Bourbon: Whisk(e)y Wednesday presented by Calandro's Supermarket

Honey Bourbon at Juban's Creole Restaurant

I actually posted about Juban's honey bourbon back in 2011, well before I started the Whisk(e)y Wednesday series. However, it is high time that I take another look at the often overlooked beverage. To be clear, I don't overlook it. I drink some pretty much every time I step into the bar area at the Creole restaurant. But many people don't know that it exists! Juban's soaks fresh honey comb in their bourbon until it infuses to create a new elixir that is every bit as sweet as it is potent. This is the real deal too, not like that silly JD's Tennessee Honey. The Juban's honey bourbon is best enjoyed on the rocks... or maybe I should say that's the only way I've ever had it. What would you think about making an old fashioned or another cocktail using honey bourbon? That could be interesting. I'm always down to try new things. But seriously, take it from me... go to Juban's and order a honey bourbon or perhaps a double. I think you'll enjoy it.


Whisk(e)y Wednesday is a blog post series on Bite and Booze sponsored by Calandro's Supermarket. Calandro's has one of Baton Rouge's best selections of bourbon, Scotch, Irish, and other whisk(e)ys as well as wine and craft beer. This WW feature was scored by Jay Ducote, Eric Ducote, and Jeremy Spikes. Scores are marked for Nose, Taste, Finish, and Balance and Complexity using our own proprietary scoring system. Marks are then added and averaged, leaving us with a final score out of a 100 point scale. Our scale should be looked at on the full range of 0-100 rather than an academic range where 70 is passing and anything less is failing. A 50 should be considered a very mediocre whisk(e)y (though not undrinkable) while anything below 20 is absolute horse piss and anything above 80 is rather extraordinary and anything above 90 is world class.

225: Into the Mix Episode 3 - Juban's Creole Restaurant

Serving up 30 years of fine Creole dining tradition, Juban's has been a mainstay in the Baton Rouge dining scene for three decades. I met new Executive Chef Joey Daigle at the bar then joined him in the kitchen to watch the production of their famous dish, the Hallelujah Crab. After getting hungry in the back of the house, I take a seat in the wine room where Chef Joey sends out a smorgasbord of delightful dishes which I wash down with a glass of Juban's honey bourbon!  

In case you missed them:
225: Into the Mix Episode 1 - Mason's Grill
225: Into the Mix Episode 2 - Magpie Cafe

225: Into the Mix is a project from 225 Magazine's Dine Newsletter, tommysTV, and Bite and Booze. I'd like to especially thank Manda Fine Meats and the Paretti Family of Dealerships for their sponsorship of the series that helped make everything happen.

Hosted by Jay Ducote
Produced by Jay Ducote and Tommy Talley
Director of Photography: Dan Jones
Editor: Josh Carley
Audio: Michael Lane
Graphics by Elbow|Room
Production Assistant: Dustin Davis

COOLinary New Orleans: Commander's Palace

Commander's Palace Restaurant

Somehow I had managed to not dine at Commander's Palace during my first 31 years on this planet.  I knew I had been missing out.  The legendary New Orleans restaurant is known around the world for their Creole cuisine and commitment to service.  While in New Orleans this past August, the New Orleans CVB invited me to take part in the COOLinary New Orleans program.  During August every year, restaurants around the Big Easy create a prefix meal for just $20 at lunch at $35 at dinner.  This offers tourists and locals alike a chance to visit some of the city's best eateries for a fraction of the normal price tag.  Since I got to pick my spots for the COOLinary trip, I knew that my time had come to check out what Commander's Palace has to offer.  The previous day I visited Superior Seafood, one of NOLA's newest joints, so on this day the most iconic of all Crescent City restaurants called my name.

The staff at Commander's started Michele and I off with a couple different amuse-bouche.  French for "mouth amuser," these sometimes single bite appetizers are usually just a little something to get a meal started.  The first dish remains a bit of mystery to me, though it was incredibly delightful.  It had some infused honey swirled around a plate topped with a brittle of some sort, goat cheese, and a bit of fruit.  I recall the nutty brittle and creamy goat cheese pairing very well together along with the sweetness from the honey.

The second amuse to be placed in front of us also impressed.  It had a well seasoned Louisiana shrimp wrapped around some pickled okra and onions.  The shrimp itself had been tossed in a hot sauce bath.  Everything rested on a splendid pool of pepper jelly.  This dish had a spiciness that contrasted well with the first amuse.  The shrimp reigned supreme while the pickling of the okra and onion were cause for celebration.  The multitude of spices in the pepper jelly worked even better as a dip for the crusty french bread that Commander's placed on the table.

My appetite had grown and my palate was properly prepared for the rest of the meal.  But first... a little something from the bar!  Commander's Palace offers 25 cent martinis for lunch with the purchase of an entree.  That's right, a quarter!  I would have preferred for my martini to be a tad dirtier, but it still wasn't bad at all for a the measly price.  With an option to get up to three of these cocktails for lunch, you could definitely need to take a nap afterwards or just call it a day!

Commander's Palace $0.25 Martini

Pig & the Peach

I'm a sucker for anything with pork belly.  Throw in some peaches and Louisiana cane syrup, and I can't think of much better.  Sweet fruit pairs so well with salty, fatty pork that it is nearly indescribable.  The Commander's Palace version will make anybody a believer.  The "Pig & the Peach" dish features a root beer braised pork belly over house made boudin with whiskey-soaked peaches, Abita beer cane syrup, and red pepper coulis.  I have tasted few more magical dishes in my life.  Seriously... this plate of food would wind up in the my death-bed meal.  It is Bite and Booze put together at its finest.  Supreme compliments to Chef Tory McPhail on this one.  I probably should have ordered two... or stolen Michele's portion, at least.  It'll bring me back, for sure.
   

Commander's Turtle Soup with Sherry

The two-course COOLinary offering for Commander's included a soup or salad and an entree.  We made sure to sample as much as we could, so Michele ordered the famous turtle soup while I went with the smoked chicken and garlic gumbo.  My gumbo had a rich, dark roux and plenty of chicken and garlic flavor.  It came with no rice whatsoever, which I thought to be a little odd, but because of its thickness, the gumbo certainly didn't need any.  Michele's turtle soup won the prize though.  Spiked with plenty sherry, the soup hit multiple delicious notes on my taste buds and I wish I could have stolen a few more bites!

Chicken Saltimbocca

Griddle Seared Gulf Fish

The COOLinary menu had several entrees for us to choose from at only $20 each including the soups as well!  Michele opted for the Chicken Saltimbocca.  The plate featured paneed chicken filled with tasso, mozzerella, and sage.  It came over a pasta salad with tomatoes, olives, grilled eggplant, basil, and more with a smoked tomato butter sauce.  I went with the griddle seared gulf fish as my entree.  The black drum came delightfully seasoned and placed atop a bed of andouille, legumes, tomatoes, and summer corn with sauce Acadian.  Despite being stuffed, I managed to eat every bite of the flaky fish the readied myself for dessert.  

Creole Bread Pudding Souffle

We decided that splitting dessert would make the most sense.  Our fantastic wait staff convinced us that we couldn't leave without trying the Creole bread pudding souffle.  It didn't really take much arm twisting.  The souffle featured a decadent bread pudding that had been whipped up and coerced into rising in the oven.  The puffy souffle was delivered to our table where the waiter punctured the top only to pour a whiskey sauce into the gorge.  Each spoonful of souffle popped fireworks of flavor in my mouth.  The creamy, smooth texture along with the sweetness of the bread pudding and bite from the whiskey made this an absolutely all-star dessert.  It capped off the entire meal with the flare that the Commander's experience deserved.  And that was just lunch on a Tuesday.  I can't imagine getting spoiled with dinner on a Friday at Commander's Palace.  Maybe one day!

Honey Chocolate Holiday Cocktail

*Update (12/29) Thanks to a reminder from @kastonie on Twitter, I have renamed the "Honey Russian" as the "Honey Badger."  I meant to do this all along, and then forgot as it came time to post.  Geaux Tigers!

I recently received a bottle of Barenjager honey liqueur meant to inspire me to create a dish or cocktail for a Virtual Potluck holiday party.  Needing to find a renewed focus on the booze part of "Bite and Booze," I chose to add a cocktail to the festivities.

I've long been a fan of White Russians, the infamous beverage of choice from "The Big Lebowski" where The Dude pounds "Caucasians" like a champ.  The basic White Russian recipe is vodka, Kahlua, and dairy (cream, half and half, or milk are all acceptable).  With that in mind, I got thinking that there might be a way to create a similar beverage with honey liqueur instead of coffee liqueur.  I experimented a little bit and found that a little something was still missing, so I went back to my liquor cabinet and grabbed a little bottle of Godiva chocolate liqueur to throw in the mix.  It turns out, honey and chocolate go pretty well together!  Here's my recipe for a "Honey Badger."  It's pretty bad ass.

HONEY BADGER
1 oz Barenjager Honey Liqueur
1/2 oz Chocolate Liqueur
1/2 oz Vodka
1 oz Half and Half

Pour all ingredients over ice.  Shake, stir, or mix by pouring back and forth with another glass.  Garnish with a mint leaf, and enjoy!

Juban's Honey Bourbon

Juban's Honey Bourbon

Does everyone else love Juban's Honey Bourbon as much as I do?  It is pretty simple.  They take Knob Creek bourbon (yep, the same stuff I cooked with on MasterChef) and soak honey comb in it for a while.  Then they just stir and pour... and it is delicious!  I don't go to Juban's without having at least a double.  Are you fan?  What are your other go-to cocktails in Baton Rouge?  Leave a comment on this post or leave me a message on Facebook or Twitter.  I want to know what other local cocktails people can't pass up!  I might even mention your choices on the Bite and Booze Radio Show presented by Calandro's Supermarket!

Oh, and Chef Eusebio Gongora at Fleming's made some of his own recently (for personal use).  Chef Jeremy Coco at the Louisiana Culinary Institute just happened upon some fresh honey comb and will be making some as well.  I'm going to do the same with some honey comb I got from the Bocage Bee and Honey Company.  I'll let everyone know how it all turns out!

More Juban's Honey Bourbon

Appalachian Brewing Company, Harrisburg, PA

Volks Weizenbock from Appalachian Brewing

On the drive from Baltimore to Williamsport with Caroline, we stopped in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to grab a couple beers at the Appalachian Brewing Company.  The brewpub is one of the largest in the country so stopping by just made sense.  I began with a pint of one of their specialty brews, the Volks Weizenbock.  The beer had a strong alcohol content but remained considerably drinkable from start to finish.

We soon ordered a couple appetizers that reminded me of typical northern food.  I already realized that I missed Louisiana cooking.  We ordered a round of Canadian Poutine as well as some "Craisy" Baked Bree.  The poutine is apparently a version of cheese fries that are made with steak fries, cheddar cheese curds, and brown gravy.  I'm all about giving things a try but these just weren't really very appetizing at all.  The bree tasted alright as it came with walnuts, craisins, and some ginger infused honey.  However, they served it with plain white toast... quite a disappointed accessory to such a flavorful spread.  I'm glad we just got some appetizers and beer, because I have a feeling a full meal would have been even more disappointing.

Oh well... I wasn't there for the food!  Time for more beer.  Naturally, since this was my first time at the brewery, I ordered the sample.  Delicious!  Now this was a good choice.  The Jolly Scot Scottish Ale easily rose to the top of my favorite list, followed by the Susquehanna Stout.  All of the beers were certainly drinkable in my book so taking them down didn't prove to be much of a problem!  Cheers!!

Beer Sampler at the Appalachian Brewing Company

Blackberry Bourbon Bone-in Boston Butt Recipe

Ever since my recipe won the Tony Chachere's Tailgating Cook-off I've had numerous requests for the actual recipe of my Blackberry Bourbon Bone-in Boston Butt.  Since I don't actually have it written down anywhere on the blog, I decided it might make sense to feature it in on Bite and Booze one last time detailing the ingredients and instructions on how to make it!

Jay Ducote flanked by Celeste Chachere and Celeste Podojil at the Tony Chachere's Tailgating Cook-off

The recipe is fairly simple.  It combines meat, an injection, a rub, and hours of smoke.  Here are the ingredients you'll need:

1 large bone-in pork shoulder (Boston Butt)
1 jar of blackberry jam (8 oz or so)
1 pound of local honey
1 cup of bourbon
1 Tablespoon of fresh ground black pepper
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning
Louisiana Pecan Wood

Ingredients for the Blackberry Bourbon Bone-in Boston Butt

So let's start with the injection.  The idea is that we're going to flavor the pork both inside and outside the meat.  The ingredients that get injected inside the pork will marinate the meat as well as provide some bold flavor.  Take the blackberry jam, honey, bourbon, and black pepper and mix it all together really well.  I use a food processor or blender for this part.  Once it is all combined, strain the seeds out if there were seeds in your blackberry jam.  They will have trouble getting through the injector.

Now take your pork shoulder.  One side will probably have an excessive layer of fat on it.  Go ahead an trim most of that off.  This isn't required, but I've found that I prefer to do that before cooking the meat rather than afterwards.  There is no precision required, just make sure you are trimming off fat and not muscle.  Pork has so much fat in it to begin with that you don't need that extra layer.

Now the fun part... lay the trimmed pork shoulder down on a pan of some kind and start injecting the blackberry/bourbon/honey/pepper mixture into it.  Feel free to take a little sip... it should be sweet, fruity, peppery, and have a little kick from the bourbon!  Stick your needle into the pork shoulder all over the place. Be very liberal with it.  You might as well use it all!  Flip the pork over and make sure to get the other side too.

Inject the pork all over the place!!!

Once you have thoroughly injected the mixture into the pork, the next step is to rub the outside.  The rub is a simple combination of brown sugar and Tony Chachere's.  That will provide the sweetness of sugar with the saltiness and spiciness of Tony's.  The brown sugar will caramelize on the outside and provide a nice bark while the salt and peppers will penetrate into the pork and leave it flavorful.  Just blend the ingredients together and rub it all over the outside of the pork shoulder.  It will mix with the runoff blackberry mixture, but that's ok.  Just let it form a paste on the outside of the pork shoulder.

Now get your smoker going.  This varies completely based on what kind of smoker you have... so its hard to give specific advice.  As a general rule of thumb you'll want to smoke the pork shoulder at 200 to 250 degrees until the internal temperature has maintained around 165-170 degrees.  I usually smoke it closer to 200 degrees, so it takes 8-10 hours.  I've even left them in the smoker for over 12 hours with no problem, but it was very indirect heat.  If your smoker stays hotter than that, you won't want to leave the shoulder on for that long.

The finished product should look something like the picture below.  The bark on the outside should be nice and caramelized.  The inside will be tender, juicy, and delicious.  This certainly isn't a traditional pulled pork recipe, so don't think of it that way... although I do suggest you pull the pork apart.  If it won't pull apart with your hands then it really isn't cooked enough.  It may be safe to eat, but it hasn't broken down like it needs to.

LSU's Winning Recipe: Blackberry Bourbon Bone-In Boston Butt

Jay readies the pork shoulder for consumption

Pulled pork at its finest!

Once you've removed the pork shoulder from your smoker and given it a little time to rest and cool, you should be ready to start pulling it apart.  Just grab and handful and go to town!  I hope this recipe brings you as much happiness as it did for me.  Enjoy!

LSU vs Ole Miss: Tony Chachere's Tailgating Cook-off

The final home football game of the season saw Ole Miss come to town.  It also brought the Tony Chachere's Tailgating Cook-off to LSU where I had the pleasure of representing LSU in the finals against Ole Miss and Mississippi State.  Enjoy the video from the tailgating cook-off.  It sure was a good time, and I'd go so far as to say that I won!  Oh wait... yeah, I DID WIN!!!  Geaux Tigers!  (If the video won't load for you below, you can go straight to it on LSUSports.net.)

Check out all the posts from this season of tailgating festivities!!

Schedule:

LSU vs. West Virginia

LSU vs. Tennessee

LSU vs. McNeese State

LSU vs. Alabama

LSU vs. ULM

LSU vs. Ole Miss

The Blackberry Bourbon Boston Butt Airs On WBRZ

Today I took over the lunch-time airwaves of Baton Rouge's WBRZ to show off the "Blackberry Bourbon Bone-in Boston Butt" recipe that is representing LSU in the Tony Chachere's Tailgating Cook-off on Comcast Sports South.  John Pastorek and I had a chance to chat about the contest, the recipe, and how to vote.  Check it out below!

NOW THAT YOU'RE HUNGRY, MAKE SURE TO VOTE BY CLICKING HERE!!!

Please remember that you can vote an UNLIMITED amount of times.  There is no daily limit.  Vote now, vote tomorrow, and vote again multiple times every day until November 5th!  Just make sure that you click the "Vote for LSU" link under the video and not the play button itself, that way it will reload the video and count multiple votes! Also, please share this or the voting page with all of your friends on Twitter, Facebook, email, or any other means that you have.  Thanks!

Tweet

Bite and Booze's Blackberry-Bourbon Boston Butt

Check out the video recipe for the blackberry-bourbon boston butt that has been selected to represent LSU in the Tony Chachere's Tailgating Cook-off on CSS!  After watching the video, please VOTE FOR LSU!!

VOTE FOR ME AND LSU HERE (just click play over and over again)!

Beignets Heat Up In Baton Rouge

This article has been published in the September 2010 issue of Town Favorites Magazine. You can visit the Town Favorites website at http://www.townfavorites.com/, follow them on Twitter @TownFavorites, and find their magazines at over 150 restaurants and businesses around Baton Rouge! Pick up a copy today!

Beignets Heat Up in Baton Rouge

by Jay D. Ducote

Beignets epitomize creating gastronomic glory while respecting simplicity. The decadent deep-fried dough is the state donut of Louisiana. Yes, we have a state donut! World renowned for their influence in the New Orleans’ French Quarter at Café du Monde, beignets are undoubtedly just as deeply entrenched in Louisiana cuisine as gumbo and red gravy. A beignet, in case you don’t know, is a fluffy pastry made of fried dough and typically sprinkled with confectioners (powdered) sugar.

Beignet fingers and cafe au lait with hot chocolate at Coffee Call

Beignets have been served for decades at Baton Rouge’s own institution, Coffee Call. The College Drive hot spot built its own character, charm, and clientele in a location that gave way to the expanses of Super Wal-Mart earlier this decade. Part of the construction and redesign of the entire shopping center involved a brand new location for Coffee Call on the other side of the parking lot. Unfortunately for most of Coffee Call’s loyal patrons including the graduate students, artists, and authors of the Capital City, the new edifice failed to transfer the culture that had been established a mere couple hundred yards away. Says Baton Rouge author D.B. Grady, “Five stars for the memories. Two stars for its current, soulless, reanimated corpse.”

Despite the unfortunate relocation, Coffee Call’s business still seems to be going strong on the back of hot chocolate, café au lait, and, of course, beignets. The restaurant has a small outdoor dining area with some bistro tables and several options for indoor seating with large wooden tables, a high top with bar stools, and more bistro set ups. A quick jaunt through their ordering line gives access to the self service beverage staples of hot chocolate and café au lait (coffee with hot milk added, a signature blend to go along with the French-influenced beignets). Prior to my Coffee Call visit I received a tip from a good friend, Jeremy Spikes, to try mixing the two together. He claimed that the hot chocolate typically poured too sweet for his palate and that the café au lait needed a little sweetener, so combining the two created a spot-on final product. I gave it a try to judge for myself. As I figured, Jeremy did not steer me wrong. The warm beverage sipped creamy and smooth with an enticing combination of coffee and chocolate.

Hot chocolate and cafe au lait are ready to be poured

As for the beignets, Coffee Call has long been the only place to go in Baton Rouge. Their beignets come in the traditional pillow shape or in the form of beignet fingers. For a fairly reasonable price Coffee Call will pile up plenty of whichever kind you order on a plate and coat with a thick layer of white powdered sugar. The portions on their fingers are rather enormous, so unless it is the only meal you’ll eat that day, one person should never order a large by themselves. Like any fried food, beignets are best served immediately after departing their submersion in the hot oil. Unfortunately my small order of fingers had spent several minutes under a heat lamp. Still, that didn’t stop me from enjoying the sugar-coated dough sticks with my hot chocolate and café au lait concoction!

Carolyn, Jay, and Evan pose at Rue Beignet

I left Coffee Call wanting more. It has long been the place in Baton Rouge for beignets, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for a little competition. On April 24 of this year Rue Beignet opened its doors on East Petroleum Drive across Highland Road from Ruffino’s and next door to Maxwell’s Market. I met owner Evan Duhy and her mother Carolyn at Rue Beignet for a sample of the latest beignets to heat up Baton Rouge. Evan got the idea to open a beignet shop in the Red Stick after dining with her mom at Café du Monde in New Orleans. It was there, sitting at that iconic café, overlooking Decatur, that Evan received a moment of total consciousness… so she’s got that going for her, which is nice. She had dined at Café du Monde plenty of times while living in New Orleans, but it had never hit home like it did this time. “I thought I was just finding instant gratification by indulging in the delicious warm pillows of dough covered in powdered sugar,” Evan told me. “Little did I know beignets would shape my entire life and future.”

Evan prepares the beignets for the fryer

Evan has tried to recreate the feel of New Orleans in her strip-mall beignet store. Rue Beignet is inviting and welcoming. Eric and I were immediately greeted when we walked in the door; something that can’t be overlooked in these days of impersonal rushes through life’s chaos. I had a mug of café au lait while my beignets were cut and fried fresh to order. Like most beignets, Rue Beignet uses a large vat of cottonseed oil to fry their dough to a crispy outside with a delicately chewy interior. I began with the classic powdered sugar beignets. One bite and I might have fallen in love. This beignet, straight out of the fryer to a plate and then to my mouth, may have been one of the best donuts, let alone beignets, I’ve ever enjoyed. The beignet itself contained the ideal combination of doughy texture inside a salty and crispy shell and sweet confectioner’s sugar… pure deliciousness.

Fresh beignets entice me at Rue Beignet

Jay Ducote takes a bite of beignet heaven

For ‘un petit lagniappe’ (a little something extra), Rue Beignet offered up some of their own beignet fingers with a twist. While they gladly offer the fingers with the traditional powdered sugar, Evan thought taking the New Orleans staple and “kicking it up a notch” with different toppings might present something unique to her customers. As I munched on classic beignets three other plates were set in front of me. The plates held beignet fingers topped with honey, cinnamon sugar, and chocolate, respectively. At first I had some mixed emotions about the idea. Confectioner’s sugar nearly defines a beignet, and I couldn’t believe they were changing it up. However, after one bite of the honey beignet, I quickly changed my mind. That beignet simply tasted too good for me to disapprove. The honey finger’s flavor reminded me of an amazing version of a sopapilla while the cinnamon finger brought up equally fond thoughts of Latin inspired desserts. With that solitary taste Evan sold me on the toppings, and on Rue Beignet as a whole. I’ll continue to be a customer, that’s for sure!

Rue Beignet's twist: beignet fingers with cinnamon sugar

Coffee Call and Rue Beignet show that Baton Rouge has some great options for beignets. Next time you’re looking to change things up for breakfast, grab an afternoon snack, or finish a great meal with a little fried dough dessert, check them out. Your taste buds will be glad you did!


Jay D. Ducote is the author of the blog Bite and Booze, which chronicles his culinary and indulgent cultural experiences around Baton Rouge, South Louisiana, and the world. It can be found at www.biteandbooze.com. You can also reach him by email at jay@biteandbooze.com and follow him on Twitter @biteandbooze.

Thanks to Eric Ducote of BRBeerScene.com for taking all the pictures for this article.

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