What to order at Leo's Bread in New Orleans
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Leo's Bread is just off Esplanade Avenue at 2438 Bell St. Photo: Chelsea Brasted/Axios
My first true memory of Leo's Bread was during the pandemic, when small-batch bakery owner Kate Heller was hanging on by doing door-to-door drop-offs.
Why it matters: The perfect bagels and croissants I found in the paper box on my doorstep felt like a tether to normal life, and it's one I've always been happy to revisit at the brick-and-mortar bakery that opened in 2021.
Zoom in: I made another stop at the oak tree-shaded corner bakery in Bayou St. John after visiting a recent kid's art festival with my daughter.
- We swung past just after Hurricane Francine-induced Entergy maintenance left the bakery without power the day before.
- That meant no croissants on that Saturday, but we left more than satisfied anyway.
What I ordered: A sandwich with avocado, shaved carrots, cilantro, fresh dill and chili crunch ($9), a peach biscuit ($4), and a bagel ($2.25) positively encrusted with sesame seeds that I used for a breakfast sandwich the next morning.
- The sandwich can also be prepared on a bagel, which I actually prefer.
- But it's still one of my favorite vegetarian lunches in town because the sweet crunch of the carrots and the creamy avocado balances the chili crunch's oily umami so perfectly.
Go deeper: See the menu.
