Debbie Does Doberge started her business as an independent retailer selling a New Orleans favorite cake, the Doberge, made famous by legendary Beulah Ledner in the early part of the last century. A few years ago, Debbie moved into a space that gained notice when it became the home of 1179, an intimate and sexy, not to mention delicious Italian restaurant owned by Joe Segreto of Elmwood Plantation Fame. When Joe passed away, so did his excellent restaurant. But Debbie the cake lady moved in shortly after.
After a few years in the old 1179, Debbie moved to Rivertown, in a small space that was occupied for many years by Joey and Judy LaBella, with their Kenner-based catering company. La Bella’s was a favorite neighborhood restaurant for my family of origin, and we were all heartbroken when they downsized to only catering and moved to Rivertown. The River Road space is tiny and was very industrial-looking in the LaBella’s years. I love what Debbie has done with the place.
It looks like a kitschy diner now, with black and white penny tiles at the food bar and black vinyl chairs with white cord trim. A few treats are in the front glass case, with a kitchen behind the case and another larger space beyond the dining room, which seats maybe 30 if the food bar stools are included in the count.
The menu is a standout in the 2026 era of menus. It completely bypasses any traditional categories like breakfast or appetizers, it skips hip nicknames for these like Nibbles and Snacks, and is instead divided by feelings. Food is all lumped under the word Peckish, and drinks under Parched. Peckish includes breakfast and lunch options, and Parched is juices, coffees, and teas. It was weird to be eating with no one pushing cocktails on us. Weird and wonderful.
The menu was not large, but adequate. Working within its limits was easy for me because I usually get an All-American or two eggs breakfast anyway. There were a lot of choices in the carb category here: toast, hashbrowns, biscuit, scone, and pancakes. For content purposes, I got all of those but the pancakes, and that was only because my companion was getting French toast.
They had something about the hashbrowns on the menu which made me curious, so I asked about them. I am crazy about hashbrowns and spent a lot of time developing my own recipe for “real’ hashbrowns. They are a lot of trouble, but totally worth it. I asked if they were making those fresh potato fried cubes that are being called hashbrowns, though I don’t understand the misnomer. The waitress explained that they are fresh potatoes but not fried cubes. I had to get them, though not the $16 enhanced version. My companion was not nearly as annoying, just ordering the French toast. No questions. She was already quite happy savoring what she called an excellent cafe au lait.
The food came out and looked very appealing, though the hashbrowns merely piqued my interest. They took up most of the plate and were thin and crusty on both sides, with an obvious heavy butter component. Since I didn’t order any of the “extras” like pickled red onions and bacon, cheddar cheese or pimento cheese, this slab of buttery potato shreds was thin. They were indeed crispy crispy on both sides, and soft and buttery inside. I liked these better than all other attempts at fresh hashbrowns I have encountered, but mine are better. (See the recipe on nomenu.com, listed as Mary Ann’s hashbrowns.) This was a very appealing plate to the eye. The eggs were cooked exactly as I asked, and the bacon, while not my favorite of thick, smoky and stiff, was very good bacon. The hashbrowns were the most commanding sight on the plate.
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Then the biscuit arrived, and it was puzzling. Was this a dropped biscuit? It was too smooth for that. It certainly wasn’t a cut biscuit. And the insides were spilling out of the side, baked that way. It was the oddest biscuit in my experience. But the presentation was sweet: little soft butter hearts dotted this plate and the scone plate which was also delivered at the same time. The flavor of the biscuit was underwhelming enough to ignore it.
When I ordered the scone I was asked if I wanted a sweet or savory one. I asked about the savory scone and was told it was jalapeno. The sweet one was chocolate chip. Both sweet and savory came on the same plate. My companion and I discussed the tendency to sometimes put disparate flavors too close to each other. I was referring to a box of baked goods in Colorado recently where the four items I got were places on top of each other: a peanut butter cookie next to a cheddar biscuit, a brownie and protein bar. I was shocked I had to ask for the peanut butter cookie to be placed in its own bag. At least this disparate duo was not enclosed in a box together.
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The chocolate chip scone was loaded with melty chocolate chips, and it was fine. I love scones, despite the fact that they tend to be dry. Dry and crumbly is fine, but these didn’t crumble. They were just dry. The jalapeno cheddar one held together even more than the sweet one, making it come across as even drier. These need tweaking, in my opinion.
The other thing on the table was the French toast, which was both pretty, and pretty unusual in its presentation. It was styled unusually, with an equally pretty cinnamon butter display in the center. Plenty of powdered sugar made it look like a snow-dusted Christmas wreath. It tasted as good as it looked.
None of this is good enough to make it a destination place, but people in the Kenner neighborhoods and Harahan/River Ridge will be delighted to discover this cute little place for a lazy weekend morning breakfast, or a nice lunch nearby.
