La Vie En Rose Café finds a new home in the Lower Garden District

La Vie En Rose Café, a coffee shop that honors both innovation and Creole tradition, has moved to the Lower Garden District.

The shop has moved from sharing space with Big Sexy Neon at 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. to a new location at 1420 Annunciation St. Its soft opening will be Monday (Feb. 14), in time for Valentine’s Day and the heart of the Carnival season.

Owner Kirby Jones initially opened La Vie En Rose Café as a bike café pop-up at Martin’s Wine Cellar. From there, her business grew, and she moved the café into the Contemporary Arts Center, where it stayed until Covid forced her to close those doors last March.

Courtesy of La Vie En Rose

Kirby Jones

A lifelong New Orleanian, Jones’ Creole family has been in New Orleans for over 300 years, and she grew up with coffee as a part of her culture.

In June 2021, she told Uptown Messenger: “My grandmother used to make coffee with a lot of cream and sugar, and we would dip Bunny Bread in it when we were as young as two. Coffee is deep-rooted in the Creole culture, and it’s always been a part of my family.”

Jones is excited about her café’s new spot on Annunciation and said that while she loved the neighborhood of her former location, the space wasn’t a perfect fit.

“The neighborhood support on O.C. Haley was amazing, but because of the direction in which we are moving, we really needed to be in our own space,” she said.

The café’s new location was formerly a PJ’s Coffee, and Jones said that being in a former coffee shop suits her needs.

“It’s such a great space,” she said. “It’s the perfect environment and the inside was exactly what we needed. It gives us the opportunity to provide all of the services that we have envisioned for so long.”

At La Vie En Rose Café, Jones has a full menu of specialty drinks such as the café’s signature drink, Rose Cold Brew, made with rose cane syrup; a S’more Latte, and a Salted Caramel Latte. The café also serves tea and kombucha from a local brewer, Succotash Ferments.

La Vie En Rose Café offers pastries from local vendors as well as Jones’ own king cakes, which come in both a sweet and savory option, are available for pre-order during the Carnival season.

Randy Krauss Schmidt for The Big Book of King Cakes

Don Creole (Crawfish king cake)

The sweet option, the Rose Queen Cake, is meant to be enjoyed with the café’s Rose Cold Brew or La Vie En Rose Latte. It’s made with rose cane syrup infused into a puff tart pastry. The savory king cake, called Don Creole, is made with Louisiana crawfish, cheese, herbs, seasonings and spices.

Jones created the Don Creole king cake in honor of Arthur Humphries at the World Famous N’awlins Cafe & Spice Emporium at the French Market.

Jones’ king cakes are featured in Matt Haines’ The Big Book of King Cake, and she was recently interviewed for a segment on CBS Sunday Morning about her feature in the book. The piece will air on Feb. 27.

During La Vie En Rose Café’s soft opening hours will be Monday through Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The shop’s hours will later extend to 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week.