Calas at the Old Coffee Pot

Today I had breakfast at the Old Coffee Pot in the French Quarter, a little hole in the wall restaurant on St. Peter that I had passed by before but never knew what it was about. I met my book editor there who was in town for a conference. Because New Orleans is not a big breakfast town, I had to do a little research to figure out a unique place to take him in that part of the city. The service was unsurprisingly odd - we stood in the entryway about 10-15 minutes after they were scheduled to open and were told they weren't ready for us yet; they never quite internalized the idea that I wanted to drink decaf coffee; after the meal was over, they had our credit card for about 30 minutes (doing some internet shopping in the backroom?), citing machine problems, and we eventually had to get up and go pay in cash.

But, that's just one of those New Orleans things that we all get used to. Today, for example, we had no water at our house for most of the day. I looked down the street and there was massive amounts of water gushing out of the fire hydrant. There had been a small lake down in that direction for the last week or two; standing, fetid water is one of the great joys of New Orleans living (how come they don't mention that in the glossy New Orleans magazine that showcases the fancy uptown homes?). A year or so ago it was determined that there were so many leaks in the pipes in the New Orleans water system infrastructure that it was leaking the same amount of water as was actually getting to people. Anyway, we have water again, and one doesn't tend to inquire further into such injustices.

So, back to the restaurant and my inspiration for this post - calas rice cakes! I didn't know they even existed. But, they date back to the nineteenth century and they used to be sold by African American women in the streets of the French Quarter. Creole women were known to shout: "Belles calas, toutes chaudes!" (Calas, nice and hot!) This sweet creole dish is a deep-fried fritter made of rice, flour, sugar, spices and pecans. Mine were served with powdered sugar; they were incredibly rich and I couldn't finish them. Eating them was kind of an otherworldly experience. I hesitate to go here, but I must say that they put beignets to shame!

Calas rice cakes at the Old Coffee Pot - a jewel in the lotus.

Tomorrow morning - jury duty at the Orleans Parish Criminal Court! Tales to come...