Category: New Orleans Food

  • Gambino’s Connection to Tulane University Sports

    Gambino’s Connection to Tulane University Sports

    At Gambino’s, we’re proud of our bonds with the community. For years that connection has been extra strong when it comes to Green Wave athletics at Tulane University! Gambino’s Bakery is proud to be a business steeped in the greater New Orleans community. Over our 75 years, we’ve developed close ties with many of the…

  • When a Gambino’s Birthday Cake Made it to Hollywood

    When a Gambino’s Birthday Cake Made it to Hollywood

    Hollywood superstar Gregory Peck was in New Orleans speaking at a meeting of the American Cancer Society. It also happened to be his 50th birthday — and what better way to celebrate than with a Gambino’s cake? In our 75 years baking for the Greater New Orleans area, we at Gambino’s have had the honor…

  • How a boy with a “bad heart” showed Gambino’s soul

    How a boy with a “bad heart” showed Gambino’s soul

    Gambino’s Bakery cares about its community. Our neighbors matter, and they are part of what has made our shops so special for 75 years. Bryan Thomas, the boy with the “bad heart” is one amazing and memorable example. As we look back through the historical archives at Gambino’s 75 years serving Louisiana, it is immediately…

  • A Cake Made for the Kings of New Orleans Newspapers

    A Cake Made for the Kings of New Orleans Newspapers

    Gambino’s Bakery is proud that our creations are at the center of so many celebrations. In researching our history, we were excited to find that a major moment in local newspaper history featured our cakes, as well. The history of newspapers in New Orleans can be tough to follow. Back in 1837, local businessmen George…

  • Home Sweet Home: Gambino’s Locations Over the Last 75 Years

    Home Sweet Home: Gambino’s Locations Over the Last 75 Years

    As part of our 75th anniversary, we’re digging through the archives to find everything we can about our history. In the process, we’re learning things even we had lost to time! Today, we’re looking at all of the locations that Joe Gambino’s Bakery has occupied in Louisiana since its founding in 1949. We wanted to…

  • How 75 Years of Help Wanted Ads Tell the Story of Gambino’s and the Wider World

    How 75 Years of Help Wanted Ads Tell the Story of Gambino’s and the Wider World

    In celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Joe Gambino’s Bakery, we scoured local newspaper archives to see what we could learn about our past. One window into that past was through Help Wanted ads. They tell us a lot about our bakery, as well as how much our world has changed these last seven-and-a-half decades. It’s…

  • King Cake’s Cousins Around the Globe

    King Cake’s Cousins Around the Globe

    When you ask most Americans where king cake is eaten, the most frequent answers you’ll hear are Louisiana or New Orleans. But, to the surprise of many, king cake is enjoyed all across Europe and North America.  This is because the king cake tradition began thousands of years ago in Ancient Rome. Mardi Gras (or…

  • Kringle Cake: A Long Way from There to Here

    Kringle Cake: A Long Way from There to Here

    In a world of elaborately decorated buttercream and fondant cakes, the Kringle is easy to overlook. At first glance, it appears to be nothing more than an oversized iced Danish or maybe a flattened King Cake. But look closer and you’ll notice dozens of flaky, lighter than air layers under that smear of icing. Hiding…

  • Why Does New Orleans Love Sno-Balls?

    Why Does New Orleans Love Sno-Balls?

    Describing a sno-ball is tricky. Most of the country visualizes a snow cone, chunky ice in a paper cone drizzled with rainbow colored syrup. But for all those who aren’t local New Orleanians, let us be very clear: that is not a sno-ball. So then, what, you may ask, is a sno-ball?  This seasonal treat…

  • Gumbo vs Jambalaya: What’s Better?

    Gumbo vs Jambalaya: What’s Better?

    Bubbling away in cast iron pots over an outdoor hardwood fire, the multi-cultural dishes of gumbo and jambalaya were an affordable and satisfying way to nourish a gathering of neighbors, congregations, and hunters. From the fields of West Africa The name “gumbo” came from the West African Bantu word for “okra”. Okra was commonly used…

  • A Treat for Kings: The King Cake Story

    A Treat for Kings: The King Cake Story

    Bakery Basics The New Orleans king cake is a cinnamon and sugar spiced dough that is molded into a large circle and decorated with icing and sprinkles in the Mardi Gras colors of purple, green, and gold.  The king cake dough, however, varies greatly in bakeries across the Big Easy; while some lean towards a…

  • Powdered Sugar Pillows: The History of the Beignet

    Powdered Sugar Pillows: The History of the Beignet

    We New Orleanians are often asked, what’s all this beignet business?  We send visitors home with carefully packaged beignet mix souvenirs, direct tourists towards Cafe du Monde for the perfect late night French Quarter eat, and take photographs of those bright smiles adorned with powdered sugar mustaches.  But for people who don’t live in the…