Monday, June 14, 2010

Doughnuts on Screen: Treme


Finally catching up on Treme, David Simon's HBO series on post-Katrina New Orleans. I think I like it. Not as much as The Wire, but that's expected. I like the free form plot. It's like a long rambling instrumental at Preservation Hall which is probably what Simon intended. But more importantly: doughnuts! The episode Mrs. B and I watched tonight - I think it's #5 - featured the legendary Cafe Du Monde. CDM opened in 1862 and is probably the oldest continually operating doughnut shop in the country. All they serve is cafe au laits and beignets, piping hot, pillowy French doughnuts with a hollow center and a massive dusting of powdered sugar. I think they also serve juice and soda but no one orders any. The doughnut scene involved Simon's usual uplifting themes - domestic abuse, coke snorting - and resulted in the Annie character bummed out over an order of three.