Let the Good Times Roll

Chef David Guas — a two-time Food & Wine “People’s Best New Chef: Mid-Atlantic” nominee — opened his neighborly Arlington restaurant Bayou Bakery, Coffee Bar & Eatery in 2010, earning national praise from Southern Living, Garden & Gun, Saveur, and Bon Appétit for showcasing the soul of the South in his Louisiana-style favorites and signature desserts. Growing up in New Orleans, Guas learned to cook at his Aunt Boo’s in Abbeville, Louisiana, where punishment in the kitchen became pleasure at the stove — and that origin story runs through every dish at Bayou Bakery: the buttermilk biscuits, the pimiento cheese and Ritz crackers, the chicken and smoked sausage gumbo, the Muff-a-Lotta (the New Orleans muffuletta sandwich, layered with Italian cold cuts, olive salad, and provolone), and the three pillowy beignets buried in powdered sugar that have become his signature. The Arm Drip roast beef po’ boy — built on Leidenheimer bread flown in from New Orleans — is named for the judgment system Guas grew up with: you always judged a good New Orleans sandwich by how many napkins you used.

As the DMV’s only Mardi Gras Headquarters, Bayou Bakery transforms on Fat Tuesday into a full Mardi Pardi with an all-you-can-eat menu of crawfish Monica, Gulf shrimp jambalaya, gumbo, red beans and rice, beignets, and king cake, accompanied by live brass band music. The king cake — a Danish-style pastry with Creole cream cheese filling, white icing, and colored sugar — was called one of the top five king cakes in the country by the Washington Post. Year-round, Bayou Bakery is open for breakfast through late afternoon with Counter Culture Coffee, rotating daiquiris from the frozen machine, and grab-and-go provisions. Located at 1515 N. Courthouse Road; open Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit bayoubakeryva.com.