In New Orleans, Dong Phuong Bakery’s King Cakes Reign Supreme | Eater New Orleans
"Located at 14207 Chef Menteur Highway, this bakery sits beside an otherwise nondescript parking lot but has become one of the city’s most extraordinary bakeries, with customers queuing the length of the building during Carnival season to secure its king cake. The bakery sells several flavors of buttery brioche king cakes — almond, coconut, pecan, cinnamon, and cream cheese (the latter its most popular) — and its version intentionally eschews some local tradition: the layered, soft dough is folded, not braided; the cakes are flatter than some yet not dense; they are ring-less (meaning more cake to enjoy) and come without the plastic baby; the lightly whipped frosting is airier and less sweet than many others in town. A January 2024 story from The Washington Post reports that the bakery sells somewhere in the range of 60,000 cakes, each taking three days to complete, during Carnival season, and the operation now limits the number of cakes allowed per customer for preorders and walk-ins. “For two months out of the year, we have people who’ve never stepped foot in New Orleans East come out,” Linh Garza, the bakery's president and De and Huong Tran’s daughter, says. The business was built over four decades by three generations of a single family: founded by South Vietnamese refugees who bought and re-established an existing restaurant in 1981 and opened the retail bakery in 1982, the family steadily grew the operation while selling mooncakes, bánh mì, and other Vietnamese staples. Garza recalls her grandmother praying over the purchase: “It was a big risk for us at the time,” she says. Early on the family worked creatively to expand their reach — Huong baked mooncakes to sell at local grocery stores and De once shipped packages of mooncakes nationwide from an electronics store owned by a friend — “They were trying everything,” Garza says. A culinary breakthrough came in the early 1990s when the father developed a French bread recipe for bánh mì baguettes: “Before that, we were still making pretty traditional pastries and desserts that, outside of our community, nobody really knew about or cared to try,” Garza says, “[But] who doesn’t like French bread, especially in New Orleans?” The bakery endured major tests — the family business flooded during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the team chose to reopen, returning in January 2006 selling just bánh mì baguettes while they repaired the building themselves. King cakes were first sold in 2008 after years of recipe tinkering and slow word-of-mouth growth; publicity in the mid-2010s and expanded distribution helped the cakes gain broad acclaim, and in 2018 the James Beard Foundation awarded the bakery its American Classic award. The operation also weathered the COVID-19 pandemic by adapting with a brief walk-up window and then online ordering and curbside pickup: “Our staff was worried,” Garza says. “We could see everybody was anxious.” “We kind of mustered through,” she adds. Today, the family still produces traditional mooncakes and bao and a large pastry and bread selection — croissants, Danish twists, cream puffs (priced at $3 each), 7-inch pistolettes, milk bread, coconut rolls, and cream buns — plus a lengthy dessert list from fruit tarts and flan to mochi and Chinese wafers; they also take cake orders for special occasions with standard or premium fillings such as fresh coconut and durian. The family views the bakery as a touchstone of the local Vietnamese community and a testament to resilience: “Every year, we get a little bit better,” Garza says." - Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton
