Café du Monde has been serving beignets and café au lait at the edge of Jackson Square since 1862, and it has not changed much since then. The menu has three items: beignets (fried dough squares buried under a snowdrift of powdered sugar), café au lait (chicory coffee with hot milk), and orange juice. The chicory coffee is an acquired taste — darker and more bitter than regular coffee, a New Orleans tradition dating back to the Civil War when coffee was rationed — but it is the correct accompaniment to beignets.
The café is open twenty-four hours, which means it attracts a fascinating cross-section of New Orleans at every hour. At three in the morning you might find jazz musicians finishing a gig, late-night revellers, and early-rising fishermen all sharing tables under the green-and-white awning. The queue can be long at peak weekend hours; it moves quickly. The location — looking directly at Jackson Square and the cathedral — is as good as it gets.