30 January 2024
Mae’s bakeshop is now open on Baronne Street. | Mae’s Bakeshop
Plus, community rallies to support Linda Green, New Orleans’ beloved “Ya-ka-mein Lady,” and King Cake Drive-Thru is burglarized
Jeremy Fogg, former pastry chef of Emeril’s Restaurant, launched his new Uptown bakery Mae’s Bakeshop on January 27. For the time being, he’s dishing up buttermilk biscuits, glazed cinnamon rolls, muffins, cookies, and pie and cake by the slice, but he plans to expand the menu to savory sandwiches, toasts, and breakfast dishes next month, Nola.com reports. Fogg told Nola.com that the bakery’s menu is rooted in the family recipes he remembers from Sunday gatherings and holidays — it has notable Southern influences, including a creamy chess pie and sour cream pound cake. Mae’s pull-apart king cake monkey bread, served with bananas Foster dipping sauce, is currently available for pre-order.
A Go Fund Me campaign launches to support New Orleans’ beloved “Ya-ka-mein Lady”
A relief fund for New Orleans culinary icon Linda Green, also known as the Ya-ka-mein Lady, has raised more than $14,000 in its first day. According to the Go Fund Me page, launched by Ben Gersh, Green recently spent more than two months in the hospital due to “severe health issues,” and though she’s “easing back into cooking,” she needs support raising money to participate in this year’s Jazz Fest and French Quarter Fest. “Miss Linda IS the Ya-ka-Mein Lady of New Orleans, a beloved street food vendor and festival legend, renowned for her cooking and beloved for her generosity,” Gersh wrote. “She has helped countless people in so many ways through her life.” The campaign’s total goal is $75,000.
King Cake Drive-Thru’s delivery van is burglarized
New Orlean’s first-ever king cake drive-thru was burglarized early this morning — a thief made off with 100 king cakes stashed in a delivery van, according to a post on King Cake Drive-Thru’s Instagram page. Owner Mike Graves told Nola.com that the thief smashed the van’s window at some point between midnight and 4 a.m. The cakes were destined to be sold at a pop-up at Belle G Boutique in Meridian, Mississippi today — the event is still on, albeit with fewer cakes, and King Cake Drive-Thru will be up and running at 1009 Metairie Road by the weekend (Friday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.) after the van is repaired. This is New Orlean’s second king cake burglary this year.