Beignet Fest

Beignet Fest is a one-day New Orleans food gathering at City Park Festival Grounds built around beignets in imaginative dishes, dusted, topped, stuffed, and sandwiched. Vendors compete for Best Beignet in Traditional, Sweet, and Savory categories, and the menu stretches from powdered-sugar classics to crabmeat, praline, fried chicken and beignets, Bananas Foster, and cheese and seafood-stuffed versions, plus jambalaya, gumbo, and red beans. Vegan, gluten-free, and non-beignet options are part of the lineup. Music runs from brass bands to funk, jazz, and rock, and an Artist Market shows handcrafted work by local artisans.

Our take: Start with a classic powdered-sugar beignet, then work through the savory and stuffed versions while the brass and funk stages are going.