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Angelo Brocato is a 100-year old New Orleans favorite.
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Where to Eat Dessert in New Orleans

10 standout sweet spots to cap off an evening in New Orleans

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Angelo Brocato is a 100-year old New Orleans favorite.
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Everyone knows that feeling of being completely, almost uncomfortably full after dinner, and then instinctively craving something sweet. This feeling is particularly common in New Orleans, where famed restaurants like Brennan’s and Commander’s Palace are the birthplace of iconic desserts like bananas Foster and bread pudding soufflé.

Still, sometimes the dessert portion of the meal deserves its own stop. It’s best to be prepared with a plethora of options for when those nights strike, so here are some of New Orleans’s best spots to go for dessert to cap off the evening — all of which are open until at least 10 p.m. on weekends. Commit this list to mind, because the postscript is often the best part.

For more sweets, see Eater’s guides to NOLA restaurants where desserts steal the show; the city’s best ice cream and gelato; and where to get sno-balls.

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Angelo Brocato

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This iconic family-run Italian bakery and gelateria has been pleasing ice cream fanatics for more than 100 years with classic flavors like Sicilian pistachio, stracciatella (chocolate chip), and salted caramel. Also home to a great spumoni, freshly piped cannoli, and variety of Italian cookies. Be prepared for a line out the door after dinner on weekends, though it’s a pleasant wait.

Cannoli and fig cookies at Angelo Brocato's
Cannoli and fig cookies from Angelo Brocato’s.
Josh Brasted/Eater NOLA

Jewel of the South

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This unassuming Creole cottage may be the best place for a romantic night cap in the French Quarter, if not the entire city. As it turns out, the chocolate hot pot on the menu pairs just as well with the dreamy courtyard as it does with one of Chris Hannah and team’s refined, extravagant cocktails. Other desserts change, but expect the incorporation of spirits and savory flavors — for example, an Eccles cake served with Point Reyes blue cheese or a rum baba with Chantilly cream.

Davenport Lounge in the Ritz-Carlton

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What pairs well with dessert besides a glass of champagne? An espresso martini, also, but the answer is live music. Wednesday to Saturday nights, catch local crooner Jeremy Davenport’s live jazz at the Ritz-Carlton’s jazz bar and don’t miss the lounge’s equally swoon-worthy powdered beignets. The Ritz Carlton’s iteration comes accompanied by a trio of chocolate, caramel, and vanilla sauces for dipping. For those who are all beignet’d out, there’s also offerings like cafe au lait Doberge cake, strawberry shortcake, and seasonal bread pudding.

Davenport Lounge Bar/Official

This pastry shop is New Orleans’s answer to the French-born Ladurée: instagrammable, pastel, and displaying rows of treats almost too pretty to consume. Sucré is best known for its creamy gelato, colorful macaroons, specialty chocolates, and photogenic desserts. You won’t find cocktails here, so this is definitely for a more wholesome end to the night, but there isn’t a lack of liquid treats here. Try one of their milkshakes, flavored lattes, Ashwagandha, lavender London fog, or matcha fizz. The French Quarter location is now (re) open.

Sucré Magazine Street.
Sucré

Chandelier Bar

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There may be no sophisticated way to eat beignets, however, there is a way to eat them in luxury, and that’s underneath the twinkling crystals at the Four Seasons Hotel’s Chandelier Bar. It’s best to eat the butter-fried beignets, which comes served with a side of toasted vanilla sauce for dipping as if that wasn’t decadent enough, with your pinky up and an espresso martini to wash it down. Postscript: insiders like to dip the beignet in the espresso martini. 

Drip Affogato Bar NOLA

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Not sure if it’s ice cream or coffee you’re craving? Why not both? Drip Affogato Bar in the Warehouse District specializes in the traditional Italian dessert, typically crafted with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or gelato drowned in a shot of hot espresso. But, in true New Orleans fashion, Drip does not restrict their affogato choices to just vanilla. Gelato flavors include praline, Bourbon Street beignet, and bananas foster, just to name a few. Enjoy it in the comfort of this small but mighty café with eclectic décor that feels like it’s straight out of Alice in Wonderland.

Bakery Bar

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Just like the name suggests, it’s a bakery and a bar nestled on a cozy corner of the LGD, and an ideal destination for after-dinner treats of the sweet and liquid persuasion. Though a newly revamped menu is widening the restaurant’s scope, dessert lovers come for the restaurant’s anchor, Debbie Does Doberge. The multilayer confection is available by the slice, in mini bite-size cakes called dobites, or whole cakes by preorder. Daily flavor options like carrot cake, Irish mocha, and red velvet accompany the bar’s other sweet offerings like chocolate chip cookie beignets and the le s’more toast. Pair with one of the menu’s crafted cocktails, because being of age to drink and having dessert for dinner are just a few benefits of adulthood.  

The Chloe

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The ice cream sandwich is one of those traditional desserts that takes you back to childhood. Whether it was at the pool, on the porch, by campfire, or at a birthday party, the reliable ice cream sandwich was a summer staple. Luckily, the Chloe’s version can still be experienced at the boutique hotel’s pool, by a fire pit on the St. Charles Avenue porch, or after a birthday celebration in the dining room. It includes a two-inch slice of brown butter ice cream snuggled in between two praline crunch cookies the size of an 8-year old’s head, and it tastes even better than childhood. 

The Vintage

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Part coffee shop, part café, part bar, the Vintage on Magazine Street thrives with its array of offerings in a city full of people who like to start the day with a cocktail, end with caffeine, and enjoy a beignet at any time of day without waiting in the offensive line at Café du Monde. That said, the options include traditional, beignet bites (that come in an order of 24 during happy hour), and stuffed seasonal flavors like s’more or raspberry filled. Close out the night (or start the day) in this cozy, Parisian-inspired café with a beignet flight, accompanied by some bubbles and good company. 

The dessert display at the Vintage.
The Vintage

Bouligny Tavern

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This Mid-Century modern gastropub transports patrons back to an era that made drinking stylish and chic; outfitted with dim lighting, tufted booths, and a dreamy side patio. Couple that with a late closing time and it makes for an ideal nightcap and dessert destination. While the sweets selection isn’t large, the bistro says it tries to make every one count, including the coconut cake and a brownie sundae with dulce de leche, grillotines, and vanilla ice cream. Feel free to ask the bartender to suggest a good cocktail pairing, or sip dessert with the Red Eye to MSY, Bouligny’s version of an espresso martini.

Angelo Brocato

This iconic family-run Italian bakery and gelateria has been pleasing ice cream fanatics for more than 100 years with classic flavors like Sicilian pistachio, stracciatella (chocolate chip), and salted caramel. Also home to a great spumoni, freshly piped cannoli, and variety of Italian cookies. Be prepared for a line out the door after dinner on weekends, though it’s a pleasant wait.

Cannoli and fig cookies at Angelo Brocato's
Cannoli and fig cookies from Angelo Brocato’s.
Josh Brasted/Eater NOLA

Jewel of the South

This unassuming Creole cottage may be the best place for a romantic night cap in the French Quarter, if not the entire city. As it turns out, the chocolate hot pot on the menu pairs just as well with the dreamy courtyard as it does with one of Chris Hannah and team’s refined, extravagant cocktails. Other desserts change, but expect the incorporation of spirits and savory flavors — for example, an Eccles cake served with Point Reyes blue cheese or a rum baba with Chantilly cream.

Davenport Lounge in the Ritz-Carlton

What pairs well with dessert besides a glass of champagne? An espresso martini, also, but the answer is live music. Wednesday to Saturday nights, catch local crooner Jeremy Davenport’s live jazz at the Ritz-Carlton’s jazz bar and don’t miss the lounge’s equally swoon-worthy powdered beignets. The Ritz Carlton’s iteration comes accompanied by a trio of chocolate, caramel, and vanilla sauces for dipping. For those who are all beignet’d out, there’s also offerings like cafe au lait Doberge cake, strawberry shortcake, and seasonal bread pudding.

Davenport Lounge Bar/Official

Sucré

This pastry shop is New Orleans’s answer to the French-born Ladurée: instagrammable, pastel, and displaying rows of treats almost too pretty to consume. Sucré is best known for its creamy gelato, colorful macaroons, specialty chocolates, and photogenic desserts. You won’t find cocktails here, so this is definitely for a more wholesome end to the night, but there isn’t a lack of liquid treats here. Try one of their milkshakes, flavored lattes, Ashwagandha, lavender London fog, or matcha fizz. The French Quarter location is now (re) open.

Sucré Magazine Street.
Sucré

Chandelier Bar

There may be no sophisticated way to eat beignets, however, there is a way to eat them in luxury, and that’s underneath the twinkling crystals at the Four Seasons Hotel’s Chandelier Bar. It’s best to eat the butter-fried beignets, which comes served with a side of toasted vanilla sauce for dipping as if that wasn’t decadent enough, with your pinky up and an espresso martini to wash it down. Postscript: insiders like to dip the beignet in the espresso martini. 

Drip Affogato Bar NOLA

Not sure if it’s ice cream or coffee you’re craving? Why not both? Drip Affogato Bar in the Warehouse District specializes in the traditional Italian dessert, typically crafted with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or gelato drowned in a shot of hot espresso. But, in true New Orleans fashion, Drip does not restrict their affogato choices to just vanilla. Gelato flavors include praline, Bourbon Street beignet, and bananas foster, just to name a few. Enjoy it in the comfort of this small but mighty café with eclectic décor that feels like it’s straight out of Alice in Wonderland.

Bakery Bar

Just like the name suggests, it’s a bakery and a bar nestled on a cozy corner of the LGD, and an ideal destination for after-dinner treats of the sweet and liquid persuasion. Though a newly revamped menu is widening the restaurant’s scope, dessert lovers come for the restaurant’s anchor, Debbie Does Doberge. The multilayer confection is available by the slice, in mini bite-size cakes called dobites, or whole cakes by preorder. Daily flavor options like carrot cake, Irish mocha, and red velvet accompany the bar’s other sweet offerings like chocolate chip cookie beignets and the le s’more toast. Pair with one of the menu’s crafted cocktails, because being of age to drink and having dessert for dinner are just a few benefits of adulthood.  

The Chloe

The ice cream sandwich is one of those traditional desserts that takes you back to childhood. Whether it was at the pool, on the porch, by campfire, or at a birthday party, the reliable ice cream sandwich was a summer staple. Luckily, the Chloe’s version can still be experienced at the boutique hotel’s pool, by a fire pit on the St. Charles Avenue porch, or after a birthday celebration in the dining room. It includes a two-inch slice of brown butter ice cream snuggled in between two praline crunch cookies the size of an 8-year old’s head, and it tastes even better than childhood. 

The Vintage

Part coffee shop, part café, part bar, the Vintage on Magazine Street thrives with its array of offerings in a city full of people who like to start the day with a cocktail, end with caffeine, and enjoy a beignet at any time of day without waiting in the offensive line at Café du Monde. That said, the options include traditional, beignet bites (that come in an order of 24 during happy hour), and stuffed seasonal flavors like s’more or raspberry filled. Close out the night (or start the day) in this cozy, Parisian-inspired café with a beignet flight, accompanied by some bubbles and good company. 

The dessert display at the Vintage.
The Vintage

Bouligny Tavern

This Mid-Century modern gastropub transports patrons back to an era that made drinking stylish and chic; outfitted with dim lighting, tufted booths, and a dreamy side patio. Couple that with a late closing time and it makes for an ideal nightcap and dessert destination. While the sweets selection isn’t large, the bistro says it tries to make every one count, including the coconut cake and a brownie sundae with dulce de leche, grillotines, and vanilla ice cream. Feel free to ask the bartender to suggest a good cocktail pairing, or sip dessert with the Red Eye to MSY, Bouligny’s version of an espresso martini.

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