By Amanda Pirkowski
Medill Reports

NEW ORLEANS – A trail of powdered sugar on the outside patio leads the way to the entrance of Bon’s New Orleans Street Food. The fluffy remnants frequently fall from the lips of customers enjoying not only beignets but also Creole calas, a New Orleans classic.

Bon’s New Orleans Street Food has a special mission of “making New Orleans food approachable for everyone.” With traditional New Orleans cuisine typically using wheat as a thickener for fare such as gumbo or as a coating on fried chicken or gator bites, a gluten-intolerant traveler must often forgo these local treats. This restaurant offers a solution – gluten-free versions of New Orleans dishes, including calas, gumbo, gator street corn, shrimp and grit bites, and chicken and waffles.

“Finding a place that has gluten-free food means a lot to me – that I can actually start to appreciate the culture and the food down here,” said Sophie Owen, a gluten-free visitor from Michigan. “It was super crunchy – the chicken tenders – they taste amazing. I got the waffles. I haven’t been able to have waffles in years.”

Another sweet treat offered at Bon’s is the calas. Calas are a West African confection made out of rice flour. In the 1700s, female slaves peddled this treat on the streets of New Orleans on Sundays, according to 64 Parishes. Traditionally, the rice was dried overnight and then mixed into a “drop batter.” At Bon’s, the balls of loose batter are placed into the gluten-free fryer until they float to the top. These rice fritters are then coated with powdered sugar. 

“Calas were brought to New Orleans before the beignet was ever introduced here,” said David Sheely, owner of Bon’s. “They were the item in the streets being sold as that sugary, powdered treat. And later, the French came and introduced beignet, and unfortunately, the calas has been a lost cuisine, so we are trying to bring it back.”

Bon’s offers the first taste of calas for many.

“I actually just walked around and saw they sell those things because I couldn’t ever find them, so I was like, ‘I want to try them,’” said Doriana Fattoruso, a new resident of New Orleans. “So that’s how I ended up here. I’ve tried beignets before, but I think beignets are a little dry, so I really like that they (calas) are a little moist.”

For those who are not gluten intolerant, Bon’s New Orleans still offers beignets, with some visitors making it a point to get a beignet from Bon’s as a mainstay of their New Orleans experience. Michael Voss from Kansas said he has visited New Orleans three times and comes to Bon’s every time he is in town.

“We originally went to Cafe Du Monde down the way, and the lines were very long, and so we kind of wandered down this way, and we stumbled upon this place, and the owner was so nice,” Voss said. “That was about two years ago, the first time that we came here, and every time we come back because we love the beignets and just the atmosphere that this place has with the little courtyard out here.”

More than just replicating food that was traditionally offered in the streets of New Orleans, Bon’s also recreates the street-food feel, only serving food to-go. The only street-food vendor allowed in New Orleans is Lucky Dog, but Bon’s outside patio and seating makes it feel as if customers are eating on Decatur Street and looking out upon Jackson Square.

For those craving more adventurous fare, Bon’s menu includes battered, buffalo frog legs and a duck bomb. 

“In New Orleans, I wanted to try something different,” said Michael Martin, a visitor in town for the Super Bowl. “I hadn’t tried them before. The duck bombs looked really good. They’re duck wrapped in bacon with a little sauce inside, and they’re really potent and really nice. They have like a honey glaze inside them. It’s awesome.”

Bon’s New Orleans Street food plans to expand upon its gluten-free menu. Starting March 1, Bon’s will offer gluten-free beignets in addition to their calas that are naturally gluten free. Sheely also said the chef is currently working on perfecting a flour mix to create a gluten-free king cake, striving to uphold the cake’s tradition of sharing. Whoever gets the slice containing the plastic baby has the honor of providing a king cake for the next celebration.

Amanda Pirkowski is a graduate student at Medill, specializing in sports media. You can follow her on Twitter/X at @amandapirkowski.