I couldn’t even pronounce the word a week ago and today I woke up craving one for the third morning in a row. In New Orleans, two mainstays battle it out day after day—Café Du Monde and Café Beignet. The first is the original, the king, the one who started it all. The second is not as storied or as easily found but their offering made me weep with joy despite the lack of legend.

We stood in line 30 minutes at Café Du Monde, the original location, which was really just a street vendor with an awning for years and years. Now it’s a rambling building but the awning is still there and the crowds push in from all sides—locals and tourists visiting in line, making the best of the wait because it is worth it. We ate beignets from the bag right there on the street in front of Jackson Square. In fairness, we had to wait about 10 minutes to dig into the pastry because we ran into some Wildcats and Danny was wearing a KU jacket and one thing led to another and we were discussing Manhattan and where we live now and Kansans are everywhere, aren’t they? So by the time we’d said our goodbyes, the beignets had been waiting maybe not-so-patiently for a few. Still. They were darn amazing. We ate in silence (with only the occasional grunt of happiness) while a full pound of powdered sugar blew all over our clothes and passersby. Honestly, they were so fantastic and sinful. At the end I came to the conclusion that while superb, they really didn’t have anything over a fresh funnel cake at the Stevens County Fair. Danny disagreed. He was in beignet heaven and couldn’t be swayed that he’d ever put anything so wonderful in his mouth.

Until the next day.

We happened by Café Beignet, a teeny building with a windswept courtyard and a guitarist singing his heart out. We knew the café’s reputation and our tummies had digested the awesome Louisiana Pizza Kitchen lunch from an hour before so why not? The café was full but not crazy crowded and the girls and I secured a table while Danny ordered. We kept the request simple and matched it exactly to the beignets we devoured the day before. I was an English major and Danny’s degree is in “Music Performance with an Emphasis in Percussion and Guitar” (yes, that’s really a thing) but we understand the scientific method and wanted to model it well for our children. Ten minutes later our beignets arrived, fresh from the fryer, smothered in sugar. We knew right away our experiment was blown due to those talkative K-staters and the fact that Café Du Monde was so insanely full of beignet-seeking maniacs they’d just pre-bagged orders and handed us one through the little sliding window. Maybe the beignets weren’t the freshest ever. We don’t know. As I said, they were still quite outstanding (how many adjectives is she going to use in this post anyway?) but what we experienced at Café Beignet just blew us away.

Crispy and light on the outside, kind of soft and chewy inside. Did I mention they are fried? Then the beignet gods sprinkle powdered sugar all over them (and by sprinkle I mean dump). Because I can only handle so much sweetness, I had to stop at 1.5 of the French donuts but Danny forged on in the name of science and the girls nearly matched him bite for bite. In the end, the table was covered in leftover sugar and our faces were, too. We stumbled back out into the sunshine, not speaking, wishing the moment would never end. I hate to admit this but the county fair funnel cakes have met their match. We’re not scheduled to return to New Orleans during this particular trip but I honestly took a hard look at the meticulously planned schedule and considered revamping the whole thing over beignets. So good y’all.