Gracious Bakery & Cafe

Great iced coffee! The pastries are delicious and the croissants are unreal! I have had lunch from here a few times and there are generous portions and everything I’ve tasted was fresh and delicious.

Something special about the mochas here. Not sure what it is — the flavor is just a little different (and not overwhelmingly sweet), and I miss them. Kind, cool staff. Weird location given what’s around it — mostly a decaying Industrial Park — but there is an open proper park nearby and a safe cyclist/​pedestrian bridge across the highway. Anyway I’d def visit it again.

Pastries are good but the breakfast sandwich is over priced, almost $ 8, and underwhelming. Eggs had almost no egg flavor, too much cream or milk, the bread wasn’t toasted, and the aioli had too much garlic.
The coffee was very good and reasonably priced but everything was too expensive and didn’t live up to the hype.

This bakery is delicious. There is so much care and consideration that goes into each product. The iced chai is my go-​to each time I stop at the storefront. It is the perfect amount of spice! Beyond the iced chai, I definitely recommend trying on of the croissants, which are definitely the best in the city, or one of their specialty sandwiches. My favorite so far has been the meatloaf with tomato jam– it is such a creative spin on a traditional staple! When I can’t make it to Gracious, I salivate over their Instagram photos until the next time I can make it in. I cannot recommend this little bakery enough. You’ll find all of their delicious treats in many grocery stores and cafés throughout the city as well– so you may have tried their product without even realizing it!

Fresh and Scrumptious! This place has some of the best pastries around. As well as great seasonal items. My go to is a Vanilla Iced Coffee (taste like a White Russian) and who doesn’t love an Almond Croissant! For lunch the Chicken Salad on Ciabatta (made daily) is heavenly and with one of their house made ice teas. Gracious Bakery is definitely my go to bakery and it should be yours too !

This place was a disappointment.
We were excited to try this place because of the raving reviews but the slow service and cold food was a turn off.
We ordered the egg sandwich, added a side of fruit, 2 teas, and the French toast. Not sure how much I paid to add the side of fruit but I laughed when it came out. I got ¼ of a Granny Smith sliced in slivers and about 8 blueberries. The egg sandwich was ok, but the bread was hard and squished the food out the back when I bit down.
The French toast had a good taste, but was served at room temperature with an ice-​cold compote. Maybe the food was cold because they forgot about us. We’ll definitely try to forget this place.

Consistently the best baguette in New Orleans, as well as excellent sandwiches, pastries, breads, and of course a bunch of different King Cake options during the Mardi Gras season. They also do catering, and will not disappoint. Great little local business to support.

Strange flavors and almost nothing worth buying. Also, VERY pricey. Service was poor (and that’s being generous). For example, Danish of the day was «honey nut,» and it took us about 3 follow up questions before she admitted that the nut meant peanuts. That was $ 4 or $ 4.25 for a Danish of the day with peanuts.
Very disappointing.

My fiancé and I came in searching to try a «cruffin» (croissant/​muffin hybrid). They had it and they were delicious! We also got an egg sandwich, which was good except the texture of the egg was a little strange. The bread was delicious though. The hibiscus tea was great. We got a «Brookie» to go (brownie/​cookie hybrid) and that was also yummy. I would def go back for more baked goods!

I purchased some cookies from Gracious to share with my suite mates in celebration of national cookie day. I also got myself lunch in the form of a croque monsiuer. I had the gingerbread, oatmeal, chocolate, sugar, and peanut butter. I loved the gingerbread most. The cookies are not chewy/​soft but are also not dry. The bun for the croque monsiuer was also good. Buttery and soft. Yum.
I love the shop as well. The super friendly staff and bright, clean décor scream stay and hang out a while. I am filing it in my list of places to meet clients for early morning meetings.

Had the ham with the cheddar spread, but subbed Turkey instead. It was really amazing. Had a side salad with the creamy herb dressing. I asked if it was homemade and it is, as is the balsamic dressing. Salad was very fresh and served beautifully. Drank a freshly made chai tea latte. Perfect, not too sweet. The pastries look delicious and I will be back in the morning to pick some up as a gift for a local business call. So glad I found this place!!!

Excellent! Pastries are supreme as expected from a French bakery, the atmosphere and the staff is great too.
My girlfriend had a ham and cheese croissant and a bite of flourless chocolate cake, delicious! I went for a green onion bread sandwich with egg, arugula and smoked cheese that was great too.
In the way out we took a monkey bread to go, but we ate it too :)

I like this bakery and think it’s a wonderful addition to the area. The coffee and Chai are delicious. The pastry is always cooked perfectly. Unlike some other area bakeries, it’s very pleasant indoors and I like to stay and enjoy my pastry and coffee. You never leave smelling like a loaf of bread and the temperature inside is always perfect. I like that they have complimentary ice water out for customers.
I love the ham and cheese croissant and cinnamon roll. I’ve also tried some of the more dessert-​like items, but I prefer the breakfast foods. Some things seem priced a little high, but it tastes like they use quality ingredients so I’m sure it’s just a reflection of the cost of production, as opposed to a giant markup.
They also have a punch card for coffee which I appreciate, and they have one for French bread which is absolute genius!

Great little lunch or breakfast spot.
I highly recommend the caprese sandwich or the turkey breast sandwich (comes with pear, arugula, dijon mustard, and brie! yum). When I am feeling like a fat kid I get a side of chips and when I’m not I opt for the side salad. Both sandwich options come in at around $ 10 with tax so not too shabby for lunch.

Really cool spot for lunch! I got the Tarragon Chicken Salad, which was absolutely divine and healthy without being pretentious :) The prices are kind of high, but the food is obviously prepared daily and is really well done.

The mini chocolate tart I had from here was absolutely mind-​blowing. How can one little thing carry so much flavor?! Joy the Baker referred me to Gracious via her website, and I’m sure glad she did. This place, while off in the middle of nowhere, was an absolute gem of a find. It’s unfortunate that I wasn’t able to order anything larger than that and a chocolate chip cookie, otherwise this place had serious potential. The cronut looking in the window was calling my name, as was the delicious croissants and cookies that were in the display case. Nevertheless, ordering the mini tart was well worth the experience, even if the cookie wasn’t really fresh or up to the standard I’d like it to be (it was, after all, close to their closing time, so my fault for not coming earlier in the day). Definitely stop in for the mini tarts or any of the other cake items! Eating with your eyes here definitely works in your favor!

This is my newfound go-​to for that morning jump-​start sandwich. I’ve been twice since this review and both times were refreshing experiences. I rarely do pastries, especially during breakfast. However, if you’re able to walk into here and look one, just one of those little succulent sweet-​cakes in the eye and say no, well, i guess i’d tell you to get out of here, because you’re ridiculous.
Although there are so many pastries to choose from, both times i got the danish. They’re pretty on point. The coffee is really tasty as well. I like to drink iced coffee, i know coffee-​people are particular about said beverage, so i’m not speaking for any other brew, but i’d put my money on em. During my first visit i got the tarragon chicken salad on house-​made green onion baguette which was just perfect, i could have one of those everyday for lunch for a while and i’m pretty sure i would not get tired of them.
Second time around i had a breakfast pizza and i found it to be pretty darn good! It had the perfectly prepared crust, crispy and flaky; also the egg that runs and goes immaculately with the crust. It tastes like it sounds, just imagine pizza meets breakfast sandwich. Not like most of us haven’t had pizza for breakfast before, its just done right over here. They get my repeat business if nothing else, for the fact they carry Blood Orange San Pellegrino.
Stop in, check em out, they get pretty busy and for good reason.

Goodness gracious! What a charming little find!
I have been up and down this street tons of times and I never noticed this little spot until a friend brought me here. I had just had a huge lunch, so I didn’t partake in the amazing looking pastries. I am talking about HUGE danish that looked incredible. I just decided to get an iced coffee that was delicious and flavorful.
I also noticed that they have an array of sandwiches on the menu, so I will have to stop in one day for lunch and really see what this place is all about.

RUH ROH, THIS PLACE IS GOING TO BE ADDICTING…
Now that I’ve discovered the Jeff Davis Flyover I pass Gracious Café on runs to City Park. Holy crap, there’s nothing on the menu (Google it) or in the pastry cases that I don’t want to try.
A GREAT HIGH-​QUALITY LUNCH BARGAIN!
Every sandwich and salad on the menu is $ 10 or less. The breads are all baked in house, including the crusty green onion baguette that enwraps their chunky tarragon chicken salad. I opted for a side salad instead of chips, and with a beverage the whole meal totaled just $ 11.17 after-​tax.
BUT WHAT AN ODD ISOLATED LOCATION:
near Gert Town, between Blue Plate Foods and Xavier University on the ground floor of a nondescript office building across from WVUE.
BUT I HAVEN’T BEEN BACK
I run by this location quite a bit but I find their pastries to often be dry or bland. So I usually opt to cross the bridge and head to «Big Cheezy», «Guerrero» or «DMacs» for the burger.

Gracious serves fresh baked items in a mostly French style but with some welcome concessions to being in New Orleans (as opposed to Paris or the original Orleans).
For example, the Bananas Foster Danish comes with the distinctively Crescent City flavor of cooked bananas, sugar, and alcohol that, incidentally, beats the hell out of plain white icing. This baked disc had a crisper, more crossaint-​like crust and consistency than most Danishes. (Would that make it more of a French, rather than a Danish?) For those who never could and never will understand sweet at breakfast time (not me, but I’m married to one), there are savory breakfast goods with ham, cheese, herbs, bacon, etc. If you will pardon the bun – PUN, I mean – I plan to «savor» one of those in an upcoming visit.
There is a range of coffee drinks, including espresso and fresh brewed plain old coffee in three sizes, but without refills.
Many customers were coming in to buy baguettes, which looked exactly like French bread from France, a little crustier and narrower than New Orleans french bread. The steady stream of baguette-​buyers must know something, so I’ll have to try one of those next time, too.
The café’s bright and contemporary space is located on the first floor of a sleek but business-​like new building. The Gracious is not in a quaint converted 100 year old house or set in the shade of live oaks, but the location does provide a long awaited reason to linger in this neighborhood and ponder its deep but overlooked heritage. While enjoying my French-​Danish and coffee, that’s exactly what I did; let us digress from food and service into a bit of historical context:
The forlorn surroundings that might seem only to define the backside boundaries of Uptown, Mid-​City, Gerttown, and the CBD, actually hold as rich a history as the more illustrious historical quarters and faubourgs around town.
One block down from the Gracious, fenced-​off I-​10 plays dual roles as roaring speedway and traffic-​choked parking lot, but all those low brick and Quonset hut warehouses weren’t put there for the highway. They instead comprise one of the few surviving legacies of New Orleans’ geography for a century, the New Basin Canal.
Dug out from the swamp in the 1830s at great human cost (mostly Irish immigrants who died by the thousands from yellow fever), the canal supplanted Bayou Saint John as the major commercial waterway from Lake Pontchartrain to the city’s center. The canal made its way through what is now the wide park down Pontchartrain Boulevard and the Pontchartrain Expressway portion of I-​10, ending at the docks and turning basin where the Mercedes Benz Superdome and Smoothie King Arena now sit. (If the city had sold the naming rights to the canal, might we still have it?)
All that was unceremoniously filled in 1947, the same year that major segments of New Orleans’ streetcar system were decommissioned. These were not coincidences. Both the waterway and streetcar rails fell victim to the automobile industry’s push to build highways and replace public rail transit with bus and personal cars.
Six decades after it disappeared, the canal in its heyday remains a great source of lore and inspiration. The sailing vessels and watermelon boats crowding the canal in old photos are frequent subjects for local artists. Nearly every older New Orleanian alive today seems to have had a grandfather who told stories of keeping cool in the summer by swimming out to a low-​decked fruit boat from the northshore, swiping a ripe watermelon, and racing back to shore before the crew noticed. The canal still exists north of Robert E. Lee Blvd. as the waterway connecting the New Orleans Marina to the lake. The lock control structure still exists, solidly landlocked right behind Russel’s Marina Grill.
Directly across the street from the Gracious is the former Coca-​Cola bottling plant. Many of us born before 1960 remember the row of big windows along Jeff Davis, where our parents would bring us to peer at the rattling rows of glass bottles as they were washed, filled with Coke, capped, and set into crates by a Rube Goldberg line of shining machinery. If we were lucky, we could get one of the Coke-​meister attendants inside to wave at us.
In the distance beyond that is the Blue Plate Mayonnaise plant, one of the finest surviving pieces of Art Moderne architecture anywhere and now preserved as an artists’ loft.
The Xavier University building across the street hosted the legendary Wise Cafeteria for decades as well as the offices for Esso (now Exxon) during the heyday of petroleum exploration and production in South Louisiana.
I have long been fond of this quirky, neglected backwater for its history. Now Gracious gives me a reason to stop here.