Patrick Brennan had long lobbied to start a king cake program for his family‘s landmark Brennan’s Restaurant (417 Royal St., 504-525-9711), but the busy pace of Carnival season always seemed to push it to the back burner.
Not so this year, and it turns out the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group started just in time.
As tighter restaurant restrictions cut regular dining business, the company’s king cake operation revved up. That means staff the restaurant recently rehired could stay on the job by switching to king cake production.
The pink parade strawberry cream cheese king cake from Brennan's Restaurant, a new addition for 2021.
“We’ve pulled servers, cooks, dishwashers, everyone, they’re getting hours they wouldn’t have had,” said Brennan, sous chef and bakery manager for the family's restaurant group. “We’re lucky that we had the facility and the equipment we needed ready to go so we could keep doing this.”
King cakes have been a niche business for some restaurants through years. Right now, with restaurants desperate for any revenue they can gin up, the city’s voracious king cake appetite is a seasonal opportunity more are pursuing.
Soft pretzel king cakes with praline filling from GW Fins, an upscale seafood restaurant adding to the ranks of king cakes in 2021.
At GW Fins (808 Bienville St., 504-581-3467), the upscale seafood house, chef Mike Nelson devised a head-turning new king cake that looks like a soft pretzel in a Mardi Gras costume. It’s a mini king cake with praline filling twisted into the shape of pretzel, with the fluffy chew of a soft pretzel and the flavor of king cake. Cute as pie, they're designed for both single servings and sharing, packaged six to a box (at the restaurant or at King Cake Hub) or sold individually at the restaurant.
King cake from Galatoire's Restaurant, a new addition to the ranks of restaurant king cake in 2021.
Around the corner, historic Galatoire’s Restaurant (209 Bourbon St., 504-525-2021) has made its own first foray into king cakes, selling them by pre-order each Thursday (order by Wednesday). It’s a traditional cake with a thick white icing and green sugar, mirroring the restaurant’s own color motif, and has a soft, fluffy, pastry-like texture.
Many restaurants have king cake themed desserts on their menus of course, and this year that includes another New Orleans classic, Antoine's (713 St. Louis St., 504-581-4422), the city’s oldest restaurant, which has a king cake version of its famous baked Alaska on its Mardi Gras prix fixe menus.
Other restaurants have found a much-needed boost by selling other makers’ king cakes, and that’s especially true for the vaunted Dong Phuong king cake. The Vietnamese bakery has a loyal following for its crisp-shelled cake, and it has evolved a network of official resellers to broaden access away from its own New Orleans East facility. This year, that network includes more restaurants and retail shops.
The king cake from Dong Phuong bakery is distinctive and has drawn a devoted following around New Orleans.
One is Killer PoBoys (219 Dauphine St., 504-462-2731), a small sandwich shop in the French Quarter known for creative riffs on the po-boy. The Dong Phuong king cake sales are adding up to a big difference for a shop that has been reduced to takeout only in the pandemic.
“This is an insane business landscape to operate in right now, but this is one thing that’s consistent,” said Killer PoBoys co-founder Cam Boudreaux. “It reminds people that we’re here, it’s more sales, and that means we can keep our staff working.”
When the Ralph Brennan group finally did decided to get into the king cake game, it went big. From its dedicated baking facility in Gert Town, the company now produces three styles - one traditional with generous seams of cinnamon; an extra-rich, gooey strawberry cream cheese king cake (dubbed the "pink parade"); and a dense, brownie-like "black-and-gold" chocolate number.
Traditional king cake from Brennan's Restaurant, a new addition to the king cake line up in 2021.
Together they account for about 1,600 king cakes a week, with a van shuttling dozens per day to the King Cake Hub and many others headed out of town through national shipping orders. Brennan said sometimes it’s more than king cake cravings alone that sparks the demand.
“We’re getting notes from people when they order saying they ate at Brennan’s for their honeymoon or had dinner here years ago and want to relive the experience,” Brennan said. “People have strong memories around restaurants. It means a lot that people are supporting us now.”
Full disclosure: John Georges, an owner of The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate, is also a partner in Galatoire's.
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In a season of unknowns, New Orleans restaurants find a sure thing with king cake - NOLA.com
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