By Lori Gaudin

King Cake as Art

I'm a Mardi Gras geek and I adore King Cake.  Traditional plain, filled, dry, gooey - all have merit on some level.  This King Cake, from Cake Cafe & Bakery (2440 Chartres Street; www.nolacakes.com ) takes Carnival cakery to another level.  What we've got here is art.  The delicious buttery brioche, cinammon-laced ring is as beatuiful to look at as it is to  eat.  The decidedly untraditional splattered icing is a modern twist, done with intense colors striping the cake and pooling in the center in a wild whirl.  Neither too sweet or too sticky, the icing is a lovely foil for the more bread-like style of cake.  And though this particular King Cake is "traditional plain" (which means unfilled), Cake Cafe & Bakery also does King Cake fillings that are artistry in their own right:  Creole Cream Cheese; Goat Cheese & Apple; Raspberry & Cream Cheese.  A small ring is $15 and so, so, so worth the calories.  If you want to tuck the plastic golden baby into the underside of the cake, so someone's random slice gives birth (so to speak), that's your call. To get a Cake Cafe King Cake, order ahead, because stumbling/lucking out that there will be an "extra" one in the case, is slim.


Part of the Equation is Pie

Businaess partners Jeff Baron and Bart Bell have toiled, labored and otherwise worked really hard to open their restaurant Crescent Pie & Sausge Co.  Lodged immediately next to their homey breakfast spot "Huevos" on Banks St. in Mid-City, Crescent Pie & Sausage bears a similar warmth and homey quality, but the menu is entirely its own.  As the name implies, the focus is sausage and pizzas, although there are some fun surprises in the appetizers, like a flakey, delectable duck-centric meat pie, a pile of housemade potato chips showered with fresh dill, or light-as-air beer battered onion rings. 
The Pizza list numbers about 5 or so specialty pies, that change on whim.  No pie is over $15 and all serve three people comfortably.  The Chicken Marsala Pizza was an intrigue: we love Chicken Marsala and we love pizza - can the two marry well?  Atop a thin, crisp crust is a boozy, Marsala-laced sauce flecked with herbs along with tender shreds of chicken, fresh mushrooms slices, sweet sauteed onions and small blobs of creamy ricotta.  Unique and unexpectedly lovely, the Chicken Marsala Pizza was a hit.  We also devoured the "Hot Coppa," decorated with paper thin slices of sharp salami, brash peppadews, cool and peppery arugula and the tang of heady blue cheese.  Ooohhh... 
Curious about the sauasage side of things?  Chef Bart's incredible homemade sausages sre worthy of a post all their own...stay tuned.