Easy Bourbon Street Donut Bread Pudding

This Bourbon Street Donut Bread Pudding can be a fun addition to your table. Mardi Gras is coming February 15, 2021, which is a Tuesday and you will want to serve this bread! Easter can land on any Sunday from March 23 to April 25, and Mardi Gras is always 47 days before Easter. Zulu and Rex can roll on any Tuesday between February 3 through March 9. New Orleans weather on Mardi Gras Day can be unpredictable as well so be prepared.

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Some History About Bourbon Street

It’s not named after the liquor… but the alcohol may be named after it.

Royal engineer Adrien de Pauger (one of the city’s founders) also designed both the street names and layout in the French Quarter. In 1721, he named the streets using the terms of French royal homes and Catholic saints. “Rue Bourbon” was an allegiance to the royal House of Bourbon. However, which particular member of that house remains a matter of some dispute. We’re guessing it was “Ringo.” And as for the whiskey? It was likely named after the street.

In the colonial era, Bourbon was, for the most part, residential. It has more pedestrians, unremarkable streets known in the French Quarter. Obviously, that changed down the road years later with the addition of a sign that said: “Huge a** beers.”

NOLA was Once the Most Occupied Place in the City

But not just on Fridays. During 1805, 697 New Orleanians actually resided on Bourbon, and it would stay massively populated all through the Antebellum era. For decades, the infamous drinking and prostitute destination that is Bourbon St was once filled with moderate, mixed-race, middle-income folks just going about their lives. It boggles the mind.

In 1788, The Good Friday Fire torched half of Rue Bourbon and much of the French Quarter area, becoming the single most destructive event in the street’s history. We are so thankful reconstructed this area, or now there would be no inexpensive T-shirt shops selling tourist trinkets like hot sauce and Mardi Gras masks to mark your visit to NOLA.

When You Think about Bourbon Street, Don’t Forget About the Opera.

In 1859, a man by the name of Charles Boudousquie was able to raise more than $100,000 to open the French Opera House on Bourbon and Toulouse Streets. He compared them to the best, even the most venerated opera houses of Paris. The first performance was of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell. However, today the “Old Opera House” features live rock bands, a far cry from its fabulous former self.

Beer gardens and gangs?

A man by the name of Henry Wenger opened up a “concert saloon and beer garden” at 119-125 Bourbon. It was filled with pretty girls serving steins of ale. Also, something called a “self-acting organ” (not what you think) a precursor of Bourbon’s history of being a street filled with music. Then a huge round of fighting that came about with the Uptown and Downtown gangs, leaving “Wenger’s” with a lower than positive rating than he would have liked.

A Night Out was Once Shockingly Inexpensive.

Near the end of the 19th century, Vincent’s restaurant was a popular eatery located in the current space housing Galatoire. It was moved there in 1905, which offered an eight-course meal. It included half a bottle of claret and “cafe noir” for all of $1. It’s enough to make you want to invent the time machine. This pricing is adjusted for inflation as far back as 1916, that meal would have cost $24.02 today, which is still a total steal.

Even an Afternoon Out was Affordable

At the Mardi Gras of 1965, the famous drink choice on Bourbon St was a can of 12oz beer, which, back then, was a mere 35 cents, or $2.64 at todays prices. I know many who would be excited about that price.

Bourbon Street was an Originator of A/C, TV, and Beer.

On Bourbon street, bars were among the first business spaces to bring in air conditioning in the 1930s, as well as televisions and pressurized draft beer as early as 1948. This is New Orleans geniuses at its finest.

There you have it. Some history about Bourbon Street.

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