Entry No. 85 — the New Orleans file — filed under: beignets
Loretta's Authentic Pralines
Loretta S. Harrison built this business more than 35 years ago as the first African American woman to own and run a praline company in New Orleans, and the pralines are still the anchor — but the beignet is what people cross the Quarter for. The house line is three-way: Sweet Praline Beignets, Crabmeat Beignets and Burger Beignets, all fried to order, which is a very different proposition from the powdered-sugar assembly line a few blocks down Decatur. The French Market operation is a stall — number 9, in the row at 1100 N. Peters — so this is a counter-and-a-napkin situation, not a table. The N. Rampart cafe is the sit-down half, open mornings only and closed three days a week.
→ Three more weird eats & drinks in New Orleans — never the same twice
The story
Loretta Harrison grew up in St. Bernard Parish watching her mother make pralines on weekends, and was allowed to help from the age of eight. She told Eater in 2016 that the recipe her shops used had come down through at least three generations of women in her family, "maybe more." A Southern University graduate, she got her start selling at Jazz Fest and founded Loretta's Authentic Pralines in 1983 — the first African American woman in New Orleans to own and operate a praline company, in a trade that Black women had essentially invented as one of the city's earliest street foods.
The first shop was inside the Jackson Brewery on the river. She moved it to the French Market, and in the 1990s opened the North Rampart Street location, which doubled as an ice cream shop and restaurant serving stuffed peppers, pie, cookies, king cake and calas — the sweet rice fritters she was one of very few chefs still bothering to make. What put her back on the front pages was the praline beignet, which took top prize at the first Beignet Fest in 2016. Savory versions followed, and the crabmeat and burger beignets now pull as hard as the candy does.
Harrison died on February 16, 2022, at 66, of cancer at Ochsner; the obituaries called her the praline queen of Jazz Fest. Her family kept the business going. What exists today is two counters: Stall 9 in the row at 1100 N. Peters in the French Market, open seven days and built around a fryer, and the North Rampart cafe, open mornings Wednesday through Saturday and dark the other three days. The web store still ships pralines, cookies, gift baskets and king cakes anywhere. The beignets you have to come and get.
What it's like
Neither address is a linger-over-coffee operation. At the French Market, Stall 9 is a counter in the flea-market row: you order, you wait, because the beignets go in the fryer when you ask for them, and you eat standing up over a napkin with the market moving around you. Powdered sugar is a hazard rather than a garnish — don't wear black. The North Rampart cafe is the calmer half, a room with tables and a morning crowd, and the staff will walk you through the three beignets if you dither at the counter. The move at either one is to order one sweet and one savory and split them; the crabmeat beignet is a whole breakfast on its own. Both shut in the afternoon, so this is a plan you make before noon or not at all.
The move: Make it a morning move rather than a night one: get to the N. Rampart cafe on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday around 9:30, split a crabmeat beignet and a praline beignet so you're covering both directions of the menu, then walk five minutes into the Marigny or down to Armstrong Park. If it's Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, Rampart is shut — go to Stall 9 in the French Market instead and eat standing up.
📍 Before you go French Market stall: Mon–Fri 9am–4pm, Sat–Sun 9am–5pm, (504) 323-8350. N. Rampart cafe: Wed 9am–1pm, Thu–Sat 9am–4pm, closed Sun/Mon/Tue, (504) 944-7068. Both close in the afternoon — this is not a nighttime plan. Beignets are fried to order, so expect a wait at the stall when the Market is busy. The website ships pralines, cookies, king cakes and gift baskets; the beignets are in-person only.
- 📍 New Orleans
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 1100 N. Peters St., Stall #9, New Orleans, LA 70116 (French Market); 2101 North Rampart St., New Orleans, LA 70116 (cafe)
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Kermit's Tremé Mother-in-Law Lounge — Same corner of town, opposite ends of the clock: the Rampart cafe is shut by 4pm and Kermit's is half a mile up N. Claiborne under the overpass, with Kermit and the Barbecue Swingers starting at 6pm on Saturdays.
- Café Istanbul — North Rampart becomes St. Claude, and Café Istanbul sits about half a mile further down the same corridor — beignets in the morning, then whatever unclassifiable thing the Healing Center's theater has booked that night.
- St. Roch Chapel and Ex-Voto Room — A mile downriver into St. Roch, which is roughly the distance it takes to walk off a crabmeat beignet, and lands you in a room full of plaster limbs and glass eyes left as thank-yous.
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Good to know
Which of the two locations should I go to?
Depends on the day and whether you want a chair. The French Market stall (1100 N. Peters, Stall 9) is open seven days — 9am–4pm Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm weekends — but it's a counter, so you eat standing. The North Rampart cafe (2101 N. Rampart) has tables, but only opens Wednesday 9am–1pm and Thursday to Saturday 9am–4pm. On Sunday, Monday or Tuesday the French Market is your only option.
Can I get there without a car?
Yes. The Rampart–St. Claude streetcar (Line 46) runs along North Rampart from Canal Street to its Elysian Fields terminus, right past the cafe, roughly every 30 minutes from 6am to midnight — which covers the cafe's entire open window. The French Market stall is a walk from anywhere in the lower Quarter.
Can I order the beignets ahead, or have them shipped?
No. They're fried to order and in-person only, which is also why there's a wait at the stall when the market is busy. The online store ships pralines, cookies, king cakes and gift baskets; none of the beignet menu travels.
Is this ever a night plan?
No. The French Market stall closes at 4pm on weekdays and 5pm on weekends, and the Rampart cafe by 4pm at the latest — 1pm on Wednesdays. Treat it as breakfast or a very early lunch and build the rest of the day around it.
Can I find them anywhere besides the two shops?
At Jazz Fest. Harrison was a Fair Grounds vendor before the company existed, and the booth still turns up there each spring — which is where most locals first ate a praline of hers.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site
last checked: 2026-08-26