From the DCFUD mailbox, a reader writes in with an important question:
I have to make a big New Orleans dinner for a fundraiser. Do you know where I can buy good andouille in DC? Is there a bakery that sells beignets and King Cake? And can a gumbo or jambalaya be made ahead of time, in whole or part? Any information you might want to share would be so much appreciated – the fundraiser is for my son, who lost his house, car, everything but the shirt off his back.
For andouille, we recommend checking out Whole Foods or Wegmans. As for a gumbo or jambalaya recipe, we don’t have any great ones, but we bet some of our readers have some great recipes and recommendations.
As for us, whenever we’re craving jambalaya, gumbo, or beignets, we head over to the best creole restaurant in the city, if not on the entire east coast: Bardia’s New Orleans Cafe. I’d imagine they’d be happy to sell their beignets and jambalaya in bulk, especially for a fund raiser. Bardia’s is located at 2412 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan, and they can be reached at 202-234-0420.
Any other suggestions out there from our readers? Feel free to post in the comments below or, if you’d rather, contact us directly via email.
Image courtesy The Georgetown Hoya.
5 Responses
Also try the Canales meat counters at Eastern Market (inside on the west side, just short of half way down when coming from the south). Lots of different kinds of sausages there. I saw andouille last week and have made many purchases here that were wonderful.
I second the Eastern Market recommendation. I’ve done a lot of sausage experimentation there (though that sounds worse than it is). I don’t recommend the duck and fennel variety, though.
A good gumbo is actually best made ahead of time – it’s best the second or third day.
Jambalaya isn’t that time-consuming to make – the longest part is chopping the seeming tons of onions it takes. If you chop the vegetables ahead of time, it’s fairly quick. I’ll see if I can round up some recipes.
Also, for king cakes, there are a handful of Louisiana bakeries that ship. http://www.cannatas.com/ is located in Houma so they’re probably not too affected by the hurricanes, and I will vouch that their cake is good. Otherwise, a king cake is just a ring-shaped sweet bread iced,decorated with colored sugar in green, gold, and purple, and decorated with citron. A pecan makes a good substitute for a plastic baby.
Beignets can be made quite well with frozen bread dough, thawed, rolled thin, cut into triangles, deep-fried, and dredged in confectioner’s sugar. They’re crispier and more balloon-like than the thick ones you’d get at Cafe du Monde, but they’re certainly good. That’s what my family always used.
woo hoo! The Hoya gets a pic on dc fud!
I’ll also weigh in with a recommendation for andouille from the Canales stand in Eastern market. It’s excellent but needs to stay in the pot long enough for the pepper to leech out and start to turn your gumbo reddish. That’s when it hits all its flavor.
As for beignets, every New Orleans style restaurant in the country uses the Cafe du Monde brand out of the box, and may only vary the water to mix ratio a bit. Don’t let anyone fool you. For a twist, splash in a dash of almond or orange extract to the batter. Better yer, Grand Marnier.