Lagniappe Bakehouse

Southern pastry through French technique and West African spice

The pastry case at this New Orleans bakery and cafe works in Southern memory, French technique and West African ingredients, with the Vaucroissant as its clearest calling card. Lagniappe Bakehouse is the work of pastry chef Kaitlin Guerin and filmmaker Lino Asana, and the programme reads like a bakery that knows exactly where it is standing. Laminated dough carries local Creole sausage from Vaucresson’s in the lattice-style Vaucroissant. The grains of paradise bun moves like a cardamom bun or a cinnamon roll, then turns on orange zest and spice. Benne toffee cookies bring African benne seeds into the case without treating them as decoration. The pain au chocolat uses Tanzanian chocolate from New Orleans chocolatier Piety and Desire. That is the pattern: familiar pastry forms, shifted by local makers, Southern produce and African roots, with the technique kept clean.

The shotgun house counter and the courtyard hour

The Black-owned bakehouse works out of a repurposed shotgun house rather than a grand bakery hall, so the counter sets the pace. Lime-washed walls, white marble counters, hardwood floors and African art make the line feel domestic without turning soft. The courtyard, shaded by a live oak, is the place to sit when the weather allows, especially if the order includes coffee or matcha rather than a box to carry away. Recognition has followed the baking: a James Beard Award semifinalist nod in 2025, and a place on The New York Times list of the best bakeries in the country in 2024. The better items can still leave early, particularly at weekends, so regulars come at the front of the morning and look through the whole case before committing.

Order the Vaucroissant, then follow the spice

Start with the Vaucroissant if it is in the case. It tells the bakery’s story in one pastry: croissant structure, a lattice form, and Creole sausage from Vaucresson’s running through the middle. For something sweet, the grains of paradise bun is the next move, especially for anyone who likes a cinnamon roll but wants more citrus and spice than sugar. The benne toffee cookies are smaller but just as direct, the seeds giving the toffee a deeper, nuttier edge. Pain au chocolat is a good order here because the chocolate has a local link, while the alligator claw is the playful one, a bear-claw riff that can bring praline, candied citrus, poppy seeds and alligator pepper together. Drinks matter too: miso toasted matcha, a spiced fig flat white, and folere, a Cameroonian tea.