As a restaurant chef working in coastal Georgia, Abney Harper was fascinated by French meringues, making the crisp-tender clouds routinely for her dessert menu. Their reliance on egg whites left a mountain of yolks that Harper often magicked into fresh pasta. Those complementary ingredients planted the seed for a casual all-day café that Harper and her husband, James Vitrano, would later launch on the Northshore called Prima Aprés Pasta + Pavlova. The concept had a brief but successful run in Baton Rouge on Nicholson Drive, then reopened on Corporate Boulevard in April. Date-nighters, dessert lovers and mahjong players drop by for a meal, a sweet or the beautifully packaged pasta and meringues that are now sold through Williams-Sonoma. Sample dishes like mafalda with vodka sauce or deconstructed lasagna. Or opt for sweets that include the Cloud 9 pavlova, whose layers of gelato and meringue are gilded with indulgent toppings. “Meringues are really beautiful canvases you can create something special with,” Harper says.

Prima Après

5720 Corporate Blvd., Ste. D

primaapres.com