Note: Video is from March 2020
New Orleans — Beignets and burgers could soon return to the Mid-City area.
Morning Call co-owner Bob Hennessey said work on a new building at Canal Boulevard and City Park Avenue which will house his beignet shop and a Bud’s Broiler should be done by October -- if not a few weeks sooner.
Crews are preparing to lay the foundation now, Hennessey said. He added that work to build the frame and finish the building’s interior is not a complicated job and should not take long.
Hennessey said he hopes to operate the beignet and coffee shop 24 hours a day but acknowledged that could change during the COVID-19 outbreak. Still, he said he’s anxious to reopen.
“We need to bring back some old-school New Orleans traditions,” Hennessey said.
The Bud's Broiler on City Park Avenue — the original location — closed its doors in 2018, leaving just a handful of locations in the metro area, but none in New Orleans.
Meanwhile, Morning Call had been a popular coffee and beignet stand in the French Quarter and, later, suburbs since 1870.
Hennessy and his brother closed Morning Call’s Metairie location and lost their lease in City Park almost two years ago. Cafe du Monde opened in the City Park casino building where Morning Call had operated.
“We’re going to make it a happening little space,” Hennessey said of the new location, “all contingent upon things getting back to normal.”
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