714 St. Peter St.
New Orleans, LA 70116
29.958171,-90.065086
After a long night of partying it up hard on Bourbon Street, there is nothing better than eating a good hardy breakfast to soak up all that alcohol. Whether it's some good steak and eggs from the Clover Grill, those famous mini Krystal burgers, or a serving of beignets; all can alleviate the pain. One traditional breakfast food that has more history than all of those foods put together are calas. If you like beignets, then you would love calas, as they are basically beignets on steroids! Calas are made of leftover rice mixed into a sugary egg batter, then deep fried and served dusted with confectioner's sugar. People wonder why we southerners have such good physiques; look at all of the starches and carbs that we consume. I mean come on, every meal we eat usually consists of rice, potatoes and/or bread. Hell, most of the time, it’s all three at once!
The story behind these little bundles of diabetes dates back to the beginning of New Orleans in the 1700's. As we have mentioned, slaves were normally given Sundays off as their day to rest and worship. What they did with that one day was up to them, as some sang and danced while others found ways to make a little extra money on the side. When the Spanish took control of Louisiana in the 1760's, they brought with them a powerful legal instrument, coartacion, which gave slaves the right to buy their freedom. Over time, under this rule, over fourteen hundred slaves would ultimately buy their freedom. This gave many the incentive and the drive to work extra hard, offering various side services and selling numerous types of items, often food. It was not an uncommon site on a Sunday morning during this time to see a slave walking the French Quarter, selling dozens of calas.
