September 4, 2024 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, travel to New Orleans to hear the rich story of a world-famous coffee and beignets destination.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we returned to our American stories. In the heart
of New Orleans, Louisiana. By the way, I got married
in that beautiful city is a long standing tradition in
the form of a coffee shop. If you're familiar with
the New Orleans you know, of course we're talking about
Cafe Dumont. The original Cafe Dumont was established as a
coffee stand in eighteen sixty two and has since remained
(00:33):
open twenty four hours a day, seven days a week,
with the exception of Christmas Day or the occasional hurricane.
Here is Emily Ager with the story of this famous
coffee shop, and this one we're doing on location, so
you will have to be dealing with the sounds and
the feel of being in Cafe Dumont.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
You know, a lot of people will pay some good
money to go to a jazz bronchpad. You can come
here and spend three seventy five and get just as
good of an experience in my opinion.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
So I guess it's.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Kind of a complicated answer about when I started working here.
My mom's grandfather bought the business in nineteen forty two,
so partly I've been involved since I was born. Both
my parents work here and my brother and my husband
now so been around it my whole life. So what
we're sitting here in right now is formally called the
(01:29):
French Market. Before it was the French Market, it was
actually a meat market and a mile of it was
all open market. Obviously, it's very warm, so that couldn't
last for a while, and the meat market slowly turned
into closer to what it is at the end of
the French Market building, which is like little stands that
(01:50):
people would buy and vegetable, you know, produce meat, arts, crafts.
We have a lot of different cultures kind of welded
together here in New Orleans, so it's a lot of
different arts and crafts that people sell in the market.
And then they started to you know, turn into more
of like the formal retail stores in like the nineteen sixties.
(02:14):
So Kappey Deman was originally started in eighteen sixty two,
and we were one of the little coffee stamps. So
capit deman is French for coffee of the world, and
it was the coffee served in the eighteen hundreds and
we've served it since then. The people that built this building,
that's the Spanish and then the French came shortly after
(02:37):
this Manash.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Which was why we get those melds of.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Culture here and the French, specifically the Akkadians brought the
Benne over. You know, everybody always asked about our coffee
and chickory blend. That blend is due to the world work.
So coffee was really hard to ship over, especially the
French blend type coffee. And so they started blending chickory,
which comes from the root of an endox plant, and
(03:02):
they started blending the chickory to add in because it
has a similar coffee taste, but it's not coffee, so
it was kind of a substitute to give it that
coffee taste while kind of halfing the coffee. And now
it's a lot of people's preference mine included. People love
the coffee chickery taste. So we started with the coffee
(03:24):
and they would have bread served with the coffee. Coffee,
and New Orleans is an all day, everyday thing. We
start and end our day with coffee, and so it
just kind of turned into the breads and stuff turned
into the vegnet when the French brought it over, and
it's now I would say the vignet is the staple
(03:46):
of New Orleans. So all of our venues are handmade,
and as soon as they're made, they get fried, so
we never we never refrigerate or freeze.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Everything is made on the spot.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
And of course it's the only food item that we sell,
so we're just constantly making it. That's all we do
all day long, is make begnets. So the begnet started,
I couldn't even give you an exact age. I want
to say it was the early nineteen hundreds and it
said that of coffee and begnets has just become the
smart thing to do in New Orleans.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
And obviously it's a very simple food.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's fried dough with powdered sugar on top, and I
think the environment brings a lot of what makes it great,
but also that we handmake it every day and it's
fresh and hot and comforting. This wasn't probably the best
place for business if you'd asked somebody back in the
eighteen hundreds before, when the river wasn't managed by engineers,
(04:44):
and it's you know, our core of engineers here in
New Orleans arise and fall of it was pretty steady.
So back in the eighteen hundreds when they built this building.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
If you would have.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Told them that this is like the epicenter of tourism,
they would.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Have probably discourage that strong point.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
But with Jackson Square in the cathedral obviously there, you know,
we have multiple things that are fun to see when
you come to New Orleans. I think this is probably
what we're best known for us is right right in
the heart of the French Quarter, right here where we are.
I feel like we just we give an atmosphere that's
(05:23):
nice to come to. We take care of our customers.
We truly, we truly like to see you know, people's
first experience with beignettes and coffee. Love to see people,
you know, get their first beignet. It's exciting for us.
So I think the magic isn't lost on us, and
so we're excited, and I think it gives an exciting
(05:44):
place to come to.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
You know. Obviously, we've put a lot of hard work.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
A lot of our family truly cares about the business
and all of our employees, so it's it's been a
lot of hard work. But also I think we're very
lucky and fortunate that you know, people enjoy coming here
and we're able to recover from them. You know, many
things that do happen in our city that make it hard.
(06:09):
We're we're look to a lot. When everybody closes after
a hurricane. You know, when when are we opening back up?
When is the city going to get started? And we
don't take that responsibility lightly.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
It means a lot to us.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So I would love to say that, you know, we
did that solo, but that's definitely not true. You know,
it's those guys right there on the street playing music
and all these people in here bringing you know, they're different,
different parts of themselves. Hyping New Orleans just makes people
feel welcome. We have that culture here that kind of
(06:43):
welcomes everybody, and that has everything to do with the
city itself. We definitely can ad take the credit for that,
but we're happy to be a part of it. Because
we're only closed on Christmas Day, we become a lot
of people's holiday traditions. You know, people come every year
from our to girl and they bring that next group
of people that's ready to come to the city. Thanksgiving
(07:06):
is a huge day for us. People are in town.
They want to bring their family from all over the
world and have them come experience Beignet's, and that's so
cool to us, you know, we love seeing that. I
think just being here for so long has given us.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
The opportunity to see that.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
There was a woman who was here who got displaced
after Katrina and came back recently, and I was talking
to her while she was winning at line and she
was saying that, like, it didn't really feel like she
was back home because so much of her neighborhood has changed,
so much of her friends and family have moved in
other places, but next has been here forever, you know,
(07:45):
so she was like, it.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Was like, I'm back home.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
I'm sitting having my coffee in my mug.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I played at Venetes.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Who's like, I feel at home, which is you know,
like that's such a gift to give somebody that's feeling
I'm being home again. That was definitely a full experience.
Of course, I love to see the toddlers kicking their
feet in the green chairs awaiting the bag of Beignet's,
you know, because it always results just eyebrows, hair clothes toes,
(08:14):
fingers covered and powdered sugar, and it's adorable, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
So I love that. But hearing those other stories you know,
it's touch.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So one fun fact about us is, not only does
our family have a lot of history and a lot
of a lot of I guess, hands in the pot,
you'd say here, but we also have a lot of
families that work alongside our family. We have families that
have two and three generations that work together both here
and at some of our branch locations. And they've been
(08:45):
with our family, you know, some of them over forty years.
So I think having that family atmosphere makes a huge difference.
You know, I think it makes her a great place
to work.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
At least I hope it does. Like I said, I
used to go to work with my dad and my
mom when I was a kid, and Mom I helped,
you know, the little duties. I know what he wants
to do.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I mean, now my dad and I sit, our deaths
are right and cross with each other. My first cousin
sits ten feet from me, and I have you know,
six others that work alongside me.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
It's it's special, you know, it's special to work with
family can sit from called, of course, but.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I think it's definitely a privilege to work so close
with her. You know, all all the people that love
you and along with people who've known my entire life
because I was here as a toddler.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
We joked one of the ladies.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
It's Kim has been here, I think over fifty years,
you know. So she saw me grow up, and now
she sees my son come in here, and she's grabbing
his cheeks, you know, and so excited. And she picked
him up and she was like, you're gonna be my
boss one day, you know, like.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Which is just so funny.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
He's three years old, So so's funny, you know, to
have that kind of environment.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Work in that kind of environment.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
But of course, yeah, we would love, we would love
for our family to be able to continue those wonderful professions.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Wherever it's been a fun way to grow up.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
It must indeed have been a great way to grow up.
You've been listening to Emily Yeger. Her family's been running
an institution in New Orleans, a cultural institution, a culinary institution,
Cafe Dumont, the original, and it's right across the street
from Jackson Square and Write in the heart, right in
the heart of the French Quarter, in one of America's
great cities. And again, a special thanks to Emily Yeger
(10:34):
for sharing her family story, the family business, and a
terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling by our
own Madison Dericott the story of Cafe Dumont, Emily Yaeger
and her family story here on our American Stories
And we returned to our American stories. In the heart
of New Orleans, Louisiana. By the way, I got married
in that beautiful city is a long standing tradition in
the form of a coffee shop. If you're familiar with
the New Orleans you know, of course we're talking about
Cafe Dumont. The original Cafe Dumont was established as a
coffee stand in eighteen sixty two and has since remained
(00:33):
open twenty four hours a day, seven days a week,
with the exception of Christmas Day or the occasional hurricane.
Here is Emily Ager with the story of this famous
coffee shop, and this one we're doing on location, so
you will have to be dealing with the sounds and
the feel of being in Cafe Dumont.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
You know, a lot of people will pay some good
money to go to a jazz bronchpad. You can come
here and spend three seventy five and get just as
good of an experience in my opinion.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
So I guess it's.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Kind of a complicated answer about when I started working here.
My mom's grandfather bought the business in nineteen forty two,
so partly I've been involved since I was born. Both
my parents work here and my brother and my husband
now so been around it my whole life. So what
we're sitting here in right now is formally called the
(01:29):
French Market. Before it was the French Market, it was
actually a meat market and a mile of it was
all open market. Obviously, it's very warm, so that couldn't
last for a while, and the meat market slowly turned
into closer to what it is at the end of
the French Market building, which is like little stands that
(01:50):
people would buy and vegetable, you know, produce meat, arts, crafts.
We have a lot of different cultures kind of welded
together here in New Orleans, so it's a lot of
different arts and crafts that people sell in the market.
And then they started to you know, turn into more
of like the formal retail stores in like the nineteen sixties.
(02:14):
So Kappey Deman was originally started in eighteen sixty two,
and we were one of the little coffee stamps. So
capit deman is French for coffee of the world, and
it was the coffee served in the eighteen hundreds and
we've served it since then. The people that built this building,
that's the Spanish and then the French came shortly after
(02:37):
this Manash.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Which was why we get those melds of.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Culture here and the French, specifically the Akkadians brought the
Benne over. You know, everybody always asked about our coffee
and chickory blend. That blend is due to the world work.
So coffee was really hard to ship over, especially the
French blend type coffee. And so they started blending chickory,
which comes from the root of an endox plant, and
(03:02):
they started blending the chickory to add in because it
has a similar coffee taste, but it's not coffee, so
it was kind of a substitute to give it that
coffee taste while kind of halfing the coffee. And now
it's a lot of people's preference mine included. People love
the coffee chickery taste. So we started with the coffee
(03:24):
and they would have bread served with the coffee. Coffee,
and New Orleans is an all day, everyday thing. We
start and end our day with coffee, and so it
just kind of turned into the breads and stuff turned
into the vegnet when the French brought it over, and
it's now I would say the vignet is the staple
(03:46):
of New Orleans. So all of our venues are handmade,
and as soon as they're made, they get fried, so
we never we never refrigerate or freeze.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Everything is made on the spot.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
And of course it's the only food item that we sell,
so we're just constantly making it. That's all we do
all day long, is make begnets. So the begnet started,
I couldn't even give you an exact age. I want
to say it was the early nineteen hundreds and it
said that of coffee and begnets has just become the
smart thing to do in New Orleans.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
And obviously it's a very simple food.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's fried dough with powdered sugar on top, and I
think the environment brings a lot of what makes it great,
but also that we handmake it every day and it's
fresh and hot and comforting. This wasn't probably the best
place for business if you'd asked somebody back in the
eighteen hundreds before, when the river wasn't managed by engineers,
(04:44):
and it's you know, our core of engineers here in
New Orleans arise and fall of it was pretty steady.
So back in the eighteen hundreds when they built this building.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
If you would have.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Told them that this is like the epicenter of tourism,
they would.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Have probably discourage that strong point.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
But with Jackson Square in the cathedral obviously there, you know,
we have multiple things that are fun to see when
you come to New Orleans. I think this is probably
what we're best known for us is right right in
the heart of the French Quarter, right here where we are.
I feel like we just we give an atmosphere that's
(05:23):
nice to come to. We take care of our customers.
We truly, we truly like to see you know, people's
first experience with beignettes and coffee. Love to see people,
you know, get their first beignet. It's exciting for us.
So I think the magic isn't lost on us, and
so we're excited, and I think it gives an exciting
(05:44):
place to come to.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
You know. Obviously, we've put a lot of hard work.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
A lot of our family truly cares about the business
and all of our employees, so it's it's been a
lot of hard work. But also I think we're very
lucky and fortunate that you know, people enjoy coming here
and we're able to recover from them. You know, many
things that do happen in our city that make it hard.
(06:09):
We're we're look to a lot. When everybody closes after
a hurricane. You know, when when are we opening back up?
When is the city going to get started? And we
don't take that responsibility lightly.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
It means a lot to us.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So I would love to say that, you know, we
did that solo, but that's definitely not true. You know,
it's those guys right there on the street playing music
and all these people in here bringing you know, they're different,
different parts of themselves. Hyping New Orleans just makes people
feel welcome. We have that culture here that kind of
(06:43):
welcomes everybody, and that has everything to do with the
city itself. We definitely can ad take the credit for that,
but we're happy to be a part of it. Because
we're only closed on Christmas Day, we become a lot
of people's holiday traditions. You know, people come every year
from our to girl and they bring that next group
of people that's ready to come to the city. Thanksgiving
(07:06):
is a huge day for us. People are in town.
They want to bring their family from all over the
world and have them come experience Beignet's, and that's so
cool to us, you know, we love seeing that. I
think just being here for so long has given us.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
The opportunity to see that.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
There was a woman who was here who got displaced
after Katrina and came back recently, and I was talking
to her while she was winning at line and she
was saying that, like, it didn't really feel like she
was back home because so much of her neighborhood has changed,
so much of her friends and family have moved in
other places, but next has been here forever, you know,
(07:45):
so she was like, it.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Was like, I'm back home.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
I'm sitting having my coffee in my mug.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I played at Venetes.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Who's like, I feel at home, which is you know,
like that's such a gift to give somebody that's feeling
I'm being home again. That was definitely a full experience.
Of course, I love to see the toddlers kicking their
feet in the green chairs awaiting the bag of Beignet's,
you know, because it always results just eyebrows, hair clothes toes,
(08:14):
fingers covered and powdered sugar, and it's adorable, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
So I love that. But hearing those other stories you know,
it's touch.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So one fun fact about us is, not only does
our family have a lot of history and a lot
of a lot of I guess, hands in the pot,
you'd say here, but we also have a lot of
families that work alongside our family. We have families that
have two and three generations that work together both here
and at some of our branch locations. And they've been
(08:45):
with our family, you know, some of them over forty years.
So I think having that family atmosphere makes a huge difference.
You know, I think it makes her a great place
to work.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
At least I hope it does. Like I said, I
used to go to work with my dad and my
mom when I was a kid, and Mom I helped,
you know, the little duties. I know what he wants
to do.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I mean, now my dad and I sit, our deaths
are right and cross with each other. My first cousin
sits ten feet from me, and I have you know,
six others that work alongside me.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
It's it's special, you know, it's special to work with
family can sit from called, of course, but.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I think it's definitely a privilege to work so close
with her. You know, all all the people that love
you and along with people who've known my entire life
because I was here as a toddler.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
We joked one of the ladies.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
It's Kim has been here, I think over fifty years,
you know. So she saw me grow up, and now
she sees my son come in here, and she's grabbing
his cheeks, you know, and so excited. And she picked
him up and she was like, you're gonna be my
boss one day, you know, like.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Which is just so funny.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
He's three years old, So so's funny, you know, to
have that kind of environment.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Work in that kind of environment.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
But of course, yeah, we would love, we would love
for our family to be able to continue those wonderful professions.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Wherever it's been a fun way to grow up.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
It must indeed have been a great way to grow up.
You've been listening to Emily Yeger. Her family's been running
an institution in New Orleans, a cultural institution, a culinary institution,
Cafe Dumont, the original, and it's right across the street
from Jackson Square and Write in the heart, right in
the heart of the French Quarter, in one of America's
great cities. And again, a special thanks to Emily Yeger
(10:34):
for sharing her family story, the family business, and a
terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling by our
own Madison Dericott the story of Cafe Dumont, Emily Yaeger
and her family story here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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