One king cake, hold the baby: A NOLA-born chef tosses out the old Mardi Gras recipe

To Sandy’s owner Peterson Harter, Mardi Gras tastes like three things: Popeyes fried chicken, Bud Light, and king cake. 

Harter has no problem finding the first two in San Francisco. But a truly satisfying king cake? That’s a different story. Fortunately, as the owner of the sandwich shop known for serving the city’s best muffuletta, Harter is in the unique position to change that. 

Since January, he’s been kneading dough and measuring cinnamon and sugar, perfecting his recipe for the wreath-shaped dessert. In Louisiana, the cakes are a staple of the Mardi Gras season, usually made with enriched dough and decorated with icing and colored sugar. Inside is tucked a tiny baby doll, believed to bring good luck to the “king” who finds it in their slice. 

After weeks of trial and error, Sandy’s will add its version of king cake to the menu Friday, officially bringing a slice of Mardi Gras to Haight Street. 

“Objectively, a king cake, it’s not the greatest thing in the world,” Harter says. “But you can only have it once a year. It represents a season: When you see the king cakes coming out, you know it’s gonna be Mardi Gras.” 

He started with a recipe similar to cinnamon rolls but pivoted to something more like brioche. There were tests with far too much active yeast, during which the cake expanded to a horrifyingly large size: “It felt like it was one of those horror movies where you’re like, ‘It’s alive!,’” he says. Eventually, he nailed the right ratio of cinnamon and sugar and developed a technique for rolling out and braiding the dough. 

But anyone who grew up eating king cakes from popular Louisiana bakeries, such as Haydel’s and Manny Randazzo, should consider themselves warned: Harter isn’t looking to re-create a classic. “If we’re going to make one, we’re going to do it our way,” he says. “It’s not just copy and paste.” 

Sandy’s king cake is soft and pillowy — on the cusp of underbaked — with cream cheese and brown-butter frosting. Harter is tossing aside the green, yellow, and purple sanding sugar, even though you’ll find all of New Orleans painted in those colors during the Mardi Gras season. Instead, he’ll dust his cakes in orange, green, and pink, the shop’s brand colors. And because this is San Francisco, Harter is finding a way to make the king cake slightly more environmentally friendly by leaving out the plastic baby. “Here’s a hot take that might not go over well: I love the babies, but I hate waste,” he says. “One thing that makes me upset about Mardi Gras is all the waste. I really hate supporting the single-use plastic.”

Breaking from tradition will likely incite complaints, but Harter has never been shy about his nontraditional approach at Sandy’s. He puts mayonnaise on his muffuletta, skips the Swiss cheese found on the classic at Central Grocery in New Orleans, and loads each with an exorbitant portion of homemade olive salad. “I always want to represent New Orleans,” he says. “But my version of New Orleans is going to be different from anyone else’s New Orleans, and I think I’ve come to terms with that.” 

Because Sandy’s has just one stand mixer and oven, Harter can’t bake enough cakes to sell them whole. Instead, this year’s king cakes will be available by the slice for $6. As Sandy’s enters its second year in business, Harter is optimistic he can expand the menu, adding more items that bring the flavors of the Big Easy to Haight — always with his personal twist. “We’re just gonna do our own thing,” he says.