HOLY SUGAR OVERLOAD.
These are beignets. They’re fried fritters generously dusted with powdered sugar, and they are 100% pure awesome.
These particular ones are from The Hummingbird Cafe in Fairfax, California (also known as one of the greenest, most beautiful towns in Marin County).
Reluctantly, I shared them yesterday with El Hub.
LOL! 🙂 I could’ve easily finished the whole plate myself. Each one was about the size of a small Pop-Tart.
Yeah, homegirl has a sweet tooth.
I washed them down with an iced chicory coffee.
Mmm, coffee and powdered sugar…
I can’t even look at these pics right now without salivating, for reals.
Aha!! Was this your first time there? We might go on Saturday before we leave for our trip! <3 <3
Hi Bernadette!
Nice to see you here. 🙂 Yes, we ended up in Fairfax on accident (LOL!) after checking out Port & Manor. By the way, you were SO right about that store. The prices are amazing! We didn’t get anything but I took a lot of notes and we plan on going back to look at some pieces more closely.
Anyway, we were on Second St and just ended up randomly in Fairfax, and I remembered you mentioning the beignets, so we stopped in. They were really good — hot and fresh, and so, so sugary. Mmmm! The cafe itself is pretty small and I don’t think they take reservations so when you go factor in some time to wait.
Have fun on your trip! Have you packed yet?
Good to know – we’ve been searching for a beignet place so I’m so glad there’s one nearby!
Still working on packing, and coincidentally, I need to figure out what makeup I absolutely need to bring since I need to be “natural” but polished, and secondly…what French drugstore beauty products do I need to bring back? Need anything? 🙂
Oh gosh, SO JELLY. You’ll definitely want to pick up a bottle or two or twelve of Bioderma Sensibio H2O Micelle Solution. This makeup remover is hard to find in the US and it’s kind of amaze. Also grab a couple tubes of Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentrate. You can use it as a cleanser, makeup remover, mask… Makeup artists use it all the time as a primer and moisturizer. Guys can use it, too, after shaving! I use and love Avene Antirougeurs FORT Relief Concentrate. You can get it here for $48, but if it’s cheaper over there definitely grab a tube. I use it all the time on dry, red patches on my skin and it works wonders.
Also check out this video by the fabulous Lisa Eldridge! She has a lot of great recommendations.
Let’s see… for natural but polished travel makeup I’d go minimal with eye, face and cheek makeup, and then grab a couple lipsticks (a natural/nude shade for day and a bold shade for night… maybe red? It quickly dresses up a black cat eye with very minimal effort).
A sample list for you:
Tinted moisturizer (or your favorite BB cream or foundation)
A setting powder (if you wear it)
Under eye concealer (again, if you wear it)
Mascara
Brow filler
Pencil eye liner (one black and one brown, gray or bronze)
Liquid eye liner
One eyeshadow quad with a matte beige, two matte browns (one lighter and one darker… you may be able to use the darker one as your brow filler), and either a shimmery beige or a matte black
A matte peach or rose blush
Two lipsticks (one in a neutral pink and one in red or another bold color that you like)
Nude lipgloss
I think you could combine these pieces in a number of different ways!
Lemme know if you need any other recs…
Oh man, those look heavenly. All that powder sugar has me enamoured *heart eyes emoji*
They look very much like something called “bugne” (impossible to pronounce for an English-speaker!) where I come from. They look so much like the ones I ate as a kid, I might lick my screen a little…
Hi Lulle,
I think they have a French background so they’re probably related to treats you ate as a child. The cafe where I had them serves food from New Orleans, and these are a typical treat from that region, which has strong French ties in their food.
Oh great, now I want one!
We have similar stuff here shaped like little balls! The Flemish call them smoutebollen and the Dutch oliebollen (literally oil balls). I eat them once every year at the Christmas market. You can find ones stuffed with apple, banana, or pineapple as well!
Isn’t it great how fried dough has made it around the world?! While we were eating these treats El Hub mentioned that they tasted exactly like these Portuguese fried doughnuts that they have in Hawaii called malasadas.
Oh, I´d love some right now! I´d have them with tea and closed eyes, I guess.
I think I just had a tiny orgasm. That looks SO good right now.
Anything fried and coated with powdered sugar is a win/win in my book.
Don’t forget the coffee. It’s a must!
Fun beignet story: Many years ago, I was in New Orleans for work. Several of my coworkers stayed out late and went to Cafe du Monde for beignets. I opted to get some sleep instead. They told me the next AM that a woman at the table next to them was being swarmed by flying cockroaches and that they were all over her and her beignet. My coworkers decided to just have coffee. The woman was, understandably, freaking out and it was quite a scene. They were laughing, picturing how I would have reacted if I were her. (Spoiler alert: I was getting hivey, just picturing being there). Since then, that’s all I can think of when I hear “beignet”. 🙂
OH MY GAWD. That sounds absolutely nightmarish and traumatizing. I plan to eventually make to out there, and when I do, I plan to go during non peak flying cockroach hour, holy crap!!!
I know, right?! Horrific! This was in the summer and at night (maybe 10 PMish). I would have literally been running and screaming. And I’m not a screamer. I’m not a fan of cockroaches since we don’t have them up here in the arctic circle. I also freak over Junebugs because when we were kids, a neighbor got one stuck in her hair and her parents had to pull it out with pliers. Again, horrific. HAHA!
Yum, yum, yum, yum! Oye, I’m on a diet.
Monica.
I was going to ask if the cafe has any ties to New Orleans, but I saw on a previous comment that you said they do. It can be hard to find a good one outside of Nola, but those look delicious (from a lifelong New Orleans resident and beignet connoisseur)
OMG! Those beignets and that iced coffee look so, so delicious! I’ve been to Cafe du Monde several times at all hours and thankfully have never had to experience flying roaches (I would freak out!). If you’ve never been and ever make it there, there will be looooong lines. Trust. You can bypass by just going in and taking a seat (if the table is dirty, waiters are always around to clean up).
I’ve never had the sweet kind, only the cheese kind.
Mmm… those look amazing!
Omg! I have to drive my sorry bottom up over the GG Bridge to this place! Beignets! I gained weight just looking at those yummy delights. And iced New Orleans style chickory coffee. Swoon. I took a peek at the rest of the menu and there are so many dishes that sound scrumptious. Definitely a must try when I’m up that way. Thanks for the heads up!
Hi Tatiana,
You know what you could do is go for a hike first and then do beignets! Cascade Falls in Fairfax is supposed to be amazing. I haven’t gone yet but really want to soon. Here’s a link to it on yelp with directions and whatnot in case you’re interested.
I don’t get to Marin County much but in my neck of the woods there are a couple of great beignet places: Just for You Cafe on 22nd street, Dogpatch district serves beignets as big as your face. they take up the entire plate they are served on, and are so yum you forget all the meals you had before that moment. Also, on Sunday only Devils Teeth on Noriega, Sunset District does beignets made to order. Be prepared for a crowd and a wait but it is worth it. For those who want the Cafe Du Monde boxed mix to DIY, it is at CostPlus World market, alongside cans of chicory coffee.
catching up on your blog and ooooh, i gotta tell you i had something similar yesterday and it one had CHOCOLATE filing!
thank god for comfort food!