Louisiana’s Best: King Cakes

Particularly in New Orleans, where spirited debates about the best po’ boys, dark roux gumbos, and crispy fried chicken can get quite heated, there is one thing nearly everyone can generally agree on: king cake. Once you get past that broad stroke, though, factions develop over the relative merits of different Randazzo family cakes versus Haydel’s, Gambino’s, and countless other sprinkle-studded stalwarts. Still more will wax nostalgic over the loss of McKenzie’s bakery, whose bready, slightly less sweet cakes loom large in their childhood Mardi Gras memories.

Over the past few years, the king cake game has entered a decidedly new phase, with more and more players