By Joelle Blackstock

LICTop right: El Pavo del Ocho from Chuta Madre. Bottom right: Beef brisket sandwich from Butcher Bar

The smell of all things edible are taking over in New York City. In these summer months, along with the sunshine comes a slew of outdoor fair and festivals featuring food, vendors, and more food just like that of the LIC Flea & Food market in Long Island City. While the LIC Flea & Food featured many things juicy, saucy, cheesy, and crispy, one of my absolute favorites was a treat that made its way from New Orleans, Louisiana… beignets.

Booqoo Beignets are the newest food stand to the Triboro area featuring these sugar dusted fritters. Served with a variety of dipping sauces, like a doughnut, these beignets are crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside but with no holes in the center, they have a little more substance yet still light. Booqoo Beignets serves their beignets along side dipping sauces and because they are not too sweet, these beignets are perfect for either breakfast or dessert. And who does not love food that you can wake up to and say goodnight to!

Beignets

After trying them, I was curious where I could get more? So I reached out on BooqooBeignets.com only to have the owner, New Orleans native, and current Brooklyn resident Matthew Pace reply back. Turns out Booqoo Beignets are a small start-up. They’re going to be at LIC Flea & Food every weekend and you can follow them on social media to find out what other places they will be expanding too in the near future.

But to the more important question: what does Booqoo mean?

“It’s a play on the French word “beaucoup” which means “a lot” or “many” and it’s still popular everyday slang in New Orleans because of its French heritage, and I just though spelling it my way would be phonetically easier to read for non French speakers.” – Matthew Pace