Visiting Mike's Pastry for the first time can be overwhelming. The place is world famous for its cannoli, and it has the lines to prove it. There's almost always a wave of people pressed up against the row of cash registers, clamoring for the restaurant's Italian sweets — but it's not the crowd that can get to you. It's deciding which of the shop's 19 cannoli flavors to try first.
That's right — the Boston shop serves 19 kinds of cannoli. There's the classic ricotta mixture (both plain and coated with chocolate chips), a chocolate-covered version, one featuring chocolate mousse, and another featuring a richer, chocolate cream. And from there, the flavors turn into the dessert mash-ups of your dreams: peanut butter, Oreo, Nutella, limoncello, strawberry, Amaretto, espresso, and pecan caramel, just to name a few.
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While Mike's Pastry sells other classic Italian desserts, like biscotti and rainbow cookies, the cannoli is what's made it a must-visit tourist destination. (In fact, a Google search shows it's usually pitted against nearby Modern Pastry as people debate which has the best cannoli in the entire city.)
Angelo Papa, stepson of Michael Mercogliano — AKA the Mike in Mike's Pastry — once said the key to a great cannoli is actually its shell. The filling may get all the attention, but if your shells taste like soggy cardboard, nobody wants to eat your treats. He should know; his three stores sell between 32,000 and 36,000 cannoli a week.
Mike's Pastry makes theirs fresh daily, frying them up in big batches and loading them in barrels, so employees can easily grab and fill them throughout the day. This process keeps things moving quickly, so even when the line's flooding out the front door, you're still only waiting about 20 minutes, employees say.
To determine whether Mike's really makes the best cannoli out there, you'll have to try them for yourself (road trip! Or you can order a cannoli kit from the company's website). Just make sure to 'gram it — and tag #damnthatsdelish.
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