It’s a sign of how narrow Vietnamese culture has become in New Orleans that a company that markets itself widely can use a pun on a Vietnamese surname and get away with it.
This is Dough Nguyener’s Bakery, which takes its name from founder Betty Archote’s surname, Nguyen, which is pronounced win, meaning “dough winner”.
Dough Nguyener’s officially opens its new bakery-cafe in Gretna on Friday, March 17th, and it turns out the company name is just the beginning of the multilingual puns.
Dough Nguyener’s Bakery is a bakery-cafe in Gretna that combines Vietnamese and American standards. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
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Dough Nguyener has a dual role. It is a production bakery for baguettes, donuts and (during the carnival period) king cakes.
It also serves as a retail bakery and restaurant with a drive-through for coffee drinks and quick food and a menu with a wide variety of Vietnamese dishes and a special niche of fried chicken.
This includes a stunning whole roast chicken that is cooked rather than sliced and served whole. The name of this festival? Get ready. It’s Nguyener Nguyener Chicken Dinner.
“Nguyener Nguyener Chicken Dinner” is a whole roast bird with sides that mix Vietnamese and southern flavors at Dough Nguyener’s Bakery in Gretna. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
It’s like training the uninitiated.
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But let’s start with the bread, because this is a bakery.
Another bread
Baguettes and round buns are part of the bakery line at Dough Nguyener’s new Vietnamese bakery-café in Gretna, sold by the loaf and made into sandwiches. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
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Lovers of Vietnamese cuisine are now familiar with the Vietnamese version of the baguette, which is very light and has a brittle crust. In some restaurants, it’s already synonymous with New Orleans-style French bread, the po-boy loaf.
Banh mi Vietnamese sandwiches are made on long baguette-style loaves at Dough Nguyener’s Bakery in Gretna. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Dough Nguyener’s has chosen a different style for its house standard. This has a softer crust, is denser and is closer in shape and texture to a Parisian baguette.
It is sold whole and also made into a range of bánh mì, including a breakfast version made with scrambled eggs and Vietnamese ham, chả lụa, that Archote’s family makes themselves.
A banh mi with eggs and Vietnamese ham makes a breakfast sandwich at Dough Nguyener’s Bakery in Gretna. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The same dough is rendered as round buns used for other sandwiches here. These are called “bun me”. The hits just keep coming.
The “bun mi” is a different kind of sandwich (and a pun on banh mi) at Café Dough Nguyener’s Vietnamese bakery in Gretna. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Part of the menu goes deep into Vietnamese tradition. You can get an iron pan with curry flavored beef stew and another with steak slices and fried eggs and pate called bo ne.
Sticky rice with Chinese sausage and fried chicken is part of the menu at Dough Nguyener’s Bakery in Gretna. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Another starts with thickly rolled strands of sticky rice topped with sweet, chewy Chinese sausage and fried chicken. There are Vietnamese pastries, like the pate chou meat pies and steamed buns. A colorful dessert is Che Khuc Bach, which is like a highly composed tropical fruit salad of fresh and jelly fruits garnished with almonds.
Colorful desserts inspired by Vietnamese tradition, including Che Khuc Bach served in martini glasses, are on offer at Dough Nguyener’s Bakery in Gretna. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
“We’re digging more into our roots here,” Achote said. “We introduce something new from our tradition.”
traditions intertwined
Archote and her family have been drawing the line between traditional Vietnamese and mainstream Americana at their restaurants for years. They started with a straight-forward fish market in New Orleans for boiled crawfish and the like in Algiers before closing that one and opening Thanh Thanh, which sticks to the Vietnamese noodle shop classics.
Pate Chaud are traditional Vietnamese meat filled dumplings at Dough Nguyener’s Bakery in Gretna. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
She also founded Huey P’s Pizzeria & Daiquiris, which mixes pizza with pho and cheese sticks with spring rolls at multiple locations.
Dough Nguyener’s double dips a little too.
Chicken wings with soy-based fish sauce and chilli glaze are on the menu at Dough Nguyener’s Bakery in Gretna. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Fried chicken can be served as “Nguyener Nguyener Wings” with a chili glaze on soy-based fish sauce, or as a fairly conventional multi-piece fried chicken dish with sides.
“Nguyener Nguyener Chicken Dinner” is a whole roast bird with sides that mix Vietnamese and southern flavors at Dough Nguyener’s Bakery in Gretna. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The Nguyener Nguyener Chicken Dinner is, of course, the whole bird extravaganza. For this one, there’s a bit of tapioca in the coating, adding a bit of stretch and chewiness to the texture. Sides alternate between East and West, with macaroni and cheese and coleslaw on one side, kimchee salad and garlic noodles on the other. A key ingredient is the velvety garlic sauce; Break off pieces of the chicken and skin and dunk for full effect.
Chicken three ways at Dough Nguyener’s Bakery in Gretna – wings, a threesome with fries and the Nguyener Nguyener Chicken Dinner, a whole bird with sides. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Dough Nguyener’s has been preparing the local market for its debut for the last two years with the potent remedy of a really good king cake.
The brand launched in the 2022 carnival season and continued this year by being distributed in the family restaurants and other businesses. These cakes are currently out of season but will return on January 6th, 2024.
Outdoor seating lines one side of Dough Nguyener’s Bakery in Gretna. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
However, if you want a clue as to what the bakery’s café sua da-filled king cake is like, Dough Nguyener makes donuts that have that sweet and creamy flavor of Vietnamese iced coffee. It’s the filling for a filled donut and the icing on another glazed donut, alongside more traditional donut varieties.
Cafe phe trung is a type of Vietnamese iced coffee made with egg yolks instead of condensed milk, here with filled and frozen donuts with Cafe Sua da at Dough Nguyener’s Bakery in Gretna. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
You can also try these with another variant of Vietnamese coffee. Dough Nguyener’s makes caphe trung, or egg coffee, substituting an egg yolk for the usual condensed milk, following a custom said to stem from a milk shortage in Vietnam long ago. The result is a sweeter, silkier coffee beverage.
The cafe also stocks frozen daiquiris covering many different bases.
Dough Nguyener’s Bakery
433 Lafayette St., Gretna
Mon-Sat: 6 a.m. – 8.30 p.m., Sun. 6 a.m. – 3 p.m
Opens March 17th
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