NOLA Eats: Non-Boozy Drinks

Yes, such exists. Mostly in the form of coffee. They make a dark, rich coffee which is part coffee and part chicory. It has less caffeine, and a rich taste well suited for cream.

Over the years, and with much experimentation, we have discovered that if you leave the bar (at 3 or 4 in the morning) and toddle over to Cafe du Monde for Cafe au Lait and Beignets before wandering back to the bed you intend to occupy for the night . . . you won't be hung over in the morning (around about 11am). I like cream in my coffee, since I am a recreational coffee drinker. But, the only time I ever put sugar in my coffee is when I can heap spoonfuls of powdered sugar from my beignets.

Oh yeah, since being hungover is something of a function of dehydration, drink the glass of water they give you. It helps. Beignets are lovely little pillows of fried dough. And, really, who doesn't love fried dough?

I'll write more about the Camilla Grill later, but for now, I want to mention one of their star attractions . . . the Freeze. It's a concoction of ice cream, milk, ice and flavor . . . I like the coffee but the Phenom swears by the chocolate. I give you the Chocolate Freeze. . . it's world famous.

And, although it's not strictly a beverage, I'm including it here because we don't do much in the way of desserts in NOLA. There is a little gelateria in the shadow of St. Louis Cathedral. It's owned by this cute little, hip italian couple I imagine are retired from something else entirely. They are Zagat's rated, have quirky theme nights . . . like Terrible Movie Night. But their gelato is the real deal. On my last trip, I had Balsamic Strawberry that was amazing and the inspiration for doing a series of entries about NOLA food. This trip, I had to try to decide between the Peach Proscecco or the Azteca. The azteca was a very dark chocolate with cinnamon and hot pepper . . . it was amazing and had quite a kick. But, I went with the peach because the girl working the counter told me that it was the end of the peaches and likely the last batch of the season. The Phenom had the banana, again.

Here's there counter:

And our Peach Proscecco and Banana gelato (with an orange spice iced tea).