Some Baton Rouge traditions involve a tailgate. This one involves powdered sugar on your shirt.

Coffee Call has been pouring cafe au lait and frying beignets in Baton Rouge since 1976, when the Cannatella family founded it. Nearly 50 years later it is still family-owned and operated, and it still works as a meeting spot for students, families and business people who need a table and a warm cup.

Start with the beignets

An order of three beignets is $5.40, and beignet fingers run $5.70 for a small or $8.10 for a large. Pair them with a cafe au lait ($4.40 small, $5.40 large) or a hot chocolate at the same price. The coffee is roasted in house, and there are vanilla hazelnut and sweetened iced coffee options, including half-gallon jugs of iced coffee for $19.50.

Stay for lunch

Coffee Call is more than a pastry stop. Po'boys come on fresh bread in mini ($9.50) or large ($11.95) sizes, and the house namesake, the Baton Rouge, layers hot roast beef in brown gravy with cabbage and Creole mustard sauce. Soups are made from Cannatella family recipes and rotate by the day. Thursdays bring chicken and sausage gumbo and chili, and Fridays feature shrimp and okra gumbo made with local Gulf shrimp.

Take some home

Missed lunch? The Heat & Eat case sells soups and gumbo in pints, quarts and half gallons, with gumbo at $9.50 a pint or $17.25 a quart. Bags of house-roasted coffee, chicory coffee and dry beignet mix are on the shelves too, which makes a handy stocking stuffer for anyone who has moved away from Baton Rouge. Coffee Call also ships products and takes large orders for pickup.

Plan your visit

Coffee Call is at 3132 College Drive, Suite F. It opens at 6 a.m. daily, closing at 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and at midnight Friday through Sunday. Call (225) 925-9493 for big orders.

Late-night study session or early-morning meeting, the beignets are ready either way.

Photo courtesy of Coffee Call.