Café Du Monde is New Orleans’ best-known coffee stand. It sits in the historic French Market at 800 Decatur Street, across from Jackson Square in the French Quarter. It opened in 1862 and has kept its menu short for more than 150 years: beignets and dark-roasted coffee with chicory.
Beignets are square, French-style doughnuts fried to order and covered in powdered sugar. They come three to an order. The classic drink with them is café au lait, the stand’s chicory coffee mixed half and half with hot milk. You can also get it iced or frozen. The menu also has black coffee, hot chocolate, milk and fresh-squeezed orange juice.
Most seats are under the open-air green-and-white awning, where servers come to your table. There’s also a to-go window around the side if you want to skip the wait. Lines can get long on weekends and around festivals, and they’re shortest early in the morning or late in the evening. Wear dark clothes at your own risk, because the powdered sugar gets everywhere.
You can easily walk from the café to Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral, the Mississippi riverfront and the shops of the French Market. A visit to Café Du Monde is a regular stop on almost any trip to New Orleans.
Tip: Hours have changed in recent years, and the café closes on Christmas Day. Check the current schedule before you go.
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