Morning Call vs. Cafe Du Monde. We like to think of ourselves as an easy-going city, but wars have been waged over less than the animosity this beignet battle generates. Everyone has their favorite and it’s not to hard to imagine the heated arguments about each spot’s merits turning into a sugar-coated scrap.
With all the fierce loyalty that the question unearths, we had to know: can people actually tell the difference between the two? If you remove the branding and the surroundings, is one beignet the same as the next?
That’s why we set up a blind taste test with some of New Orleans’ most well-known food experts. We gathered people who make their living holding court about what goes down in this city’s various food courts. Lorin Gaudin (@nolafoodgoddess), Jessica Johnson (@fatgirlnola) and Paula Echevarría Zamora (@nola.bites) all gamely took up the challenge. Or, at least, they weren’t opposed to free beignets.
We blindfolded them. We asked them to smell, touch and taste a beignet each from Morning Call and Cafe du Monde. And when all was said and done, we asked them the fateful question: which one is which, y’all?
The result, depending on where your loyalties lie, might shock you. Check out the video up top to see if these experts can tell the two apart.