Dong Phuong King Cake Preorders Sold Out for the Remainder of Carnival 2023

It’s exactly one week into Carnival season, and Dong Phuong king cake preorders are already fully booked up for the remainder of the 2023 season. It might just be a new record for the famed New Orleans East bakery, which sold out online last year as well, but a bit later in the season (Mardi Gras 2023 falls on February 21). Still, king cakes are available for walk-in purchase every day except Tuesday beginning at 8 a.m. until sold out (and they generally sell out early, despite a limit of three cakes per customer).

So where else can one secure the elusive DP king cake? More than a dozen spots in the greater area, actually, as far as Waveland, Mississippi. New Orleans spots like Bourree, Adams Street Grocery, Killer Poboys, and Mr. Bubbles on the West Bank all receive deliveries, per Dong Phuong. If you want to avoid striking out at one of the below spots, however, you’ll want to arrive at opening or call the business directly to check. They’re sold on Goldbelly, as well: basic cinnamon goes for a whopping $65 and they come unassembled — meaning you have to apply the icing and sprinkles, packaged separately yourself, as is typical (but not preferable) with many shipped king cakes. There’s currently a waitlist for those, too.

Copper Vine hopes to charm Crescent City visitors with bed and breakfast

Downtown wine hub and brunch favorite Copper Vine is adding a “restaurant-first,” 11-room bed and breakfast, a modern version of an old-school pub and inn hybrid. A press release says Copper Vine Winepub and Inn, when complete, will include a new three-story building on Poydras Street, four new dining rooms, and a 6,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor rooftop space equipped with its own kitchen. Copper Vine and Vintage Rock Club, which is also included in the expansion, will remain open during the buildout, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

Copper Vine/Official

Gris-Gris adds grab-and-go

In the four and half years since opening, chef Eric Cook’s LGD stunner Gris-Gris has become known for comforting bowls of gumbo, red beans and rice, and chicken and dumplings, among other homestyle Louisiana and Southern specialties. Now the restaurant has smartly expanded with Gris-Gris to Go Go, a retail store net to the restaurant at 1804 Magazine street. Quarts, pints, and gallons of all of the above will be for sale alongside pre-made sandwiches, salads, and other specialties (though the gallons require preorder). Gris-Gris to Go Go’s starting hours are Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Chick-fil-A opens in Algiers

A new West Bank Chick-fil-A opens its doors on Saturday, January 14 at 4130 General De Gaulle Drive, reports Biz New Orleans. The store rounds out a trio of new New Orleans area arrivals from the controversial company over the last few months, beginning with a walk-in only location on Poydras Street downtown and a drive-thru and dine-in location on Carrollton Avenue (one that coincides with a number of traffic headaches). The three Chick-fil-A’s are the city’s first standalone restaurants from the company, as the two other Orleans Parish locations are both inside buildings on university campuses.