Mike’s Pastry: Non-Cannoli Sweets

Posted by Edmund in Bakeries & Sweets, Boston, Featured Articles | 0 comments

Cuisine: Italian Bakery.
Specialty: Cannoli.
Location: 300 Hanover St., Boston, MA.
Price: $2-4 each.

After ravaging all of Boston’s North End looking for its finest cannoli, I finally reached the end of my line and just couldn’t stand to stomach another. I’d have loved to have reviewed every single cannoli in the North End, but I soon found my journey to be futile, as literally every block in the area had at least one to try. Before succumbing to cannoli overdose, I threw in the towel, declaring Mike’s Pastry the winner out of the five eateries I visited.

Not surprisingly, after that cannoli faceoff I was looking for anything but a cannoli. At the same time, as I had gone to all the Italian bakeries, I had constantly been intrigued by all the other treats in the display windows: almond cookies, rum cakes, yellow cakes, etc. There was one treat in particular that stood out: the gigantic lobster tail, a crusty croissant-like shell filled to the brim with a special mixture of whipped, vanilla, and ricotta creams. I had wanted to eat one, but I knew there would be no way to fit it in and still be able to gorge on the countless cannolis. I swore to myself, though, that I’d return for one before I left the Boston area.

And so I did. After the cannoli crawl, I decided to see what more a traditional Italian bakery has to offer. Since Mike’s had floored me with its cannoli, I thought it would probably be my most reliable bet, especially if I were looking for a cream-filled pastry (Mike’s ricotta cream is by far the best I had in my cannoli romp).

When I approached the store, I noticed that it was, yet again, packed beyond belief—and this on a Sunday night, too! It’s rare to even see a bakery open past 7’oclock, let alone one that’s thriving. But, then again, when you make the most famous cannoli in Boston and serve almost every single type of dessert imaginable, you deserve the reputation.

So I stood in line waiting for what seemed like an eternity just to get my mitts on one of those humungous lobster tails.

But, of course, when I actually got to the front, I just couldn’t help being tempted by some of the other pastries. I ordered what seemed to me a fair representation of Italian baked goods: the lobster tail (for something creamy), the almond biscotti (for a cookie), and the Baba (for something rum-based).

Unfortunately, the treats ranged from great to poor to downright disgusting. The lobster tail unsurprisingly came out on top, though the cream was, as with the cannoli, too sweet. Still, the great crispy crack of the shell along with the slight heaviness of the custard and ricotta mixture more than made up for the sweetness. The other two treats fared much worse, though, as the biscotti was practically a brick, while the Baba was so soaked that it didn’t even taste like cake.

On the more positive side, I learned a valuable lesson: not all treats are made equal. Even Boston’s best cannoli producer can’t churn out some other equally fantastic Italian specialties.

In short, if you do end up at Mike’s Pastry, do yourself a favor and go straight for the cannoli. Nothing else really compares.

What I Tasted

1. Lobster Tail (huge croissant-like flaky pastry filled with a mixture of whipped, vanilla, and ricotta creams): You might be wondering what makes this a “lobster tail.” Well, if you look at the photo, you’ll see the shape of the pastry. In addition to that, though, the texture has somewhat of a lobster-type crack to it, as the bottom is nice and soft, while the top is layered in intensely flaky pieces. The total effect is great, as you can hear the crack in every bite, which serves as a great contrast to the light, airy creaminess inside (and it’s that doughy crack that is easily the best part of this dessert). The cream fares a bit less well. I’ve never been a fan of whipped cream, so this for me is honestly not the ideal dessert. Still, this isn’t just normal whipped cream. Since it has the extra custard and ricotta cream in there, it’s a lot heavier and richer, with some more sweetness to it. In a sense it’s a nice compromise. Still, I find it under-flavored and overly reliant on sweetness. Like all whipped cream, it becomes cloying and bland after a while, and this one fares no better. 3.4/5.0
2. Baba (yellow cake soaked in rum):  Disgusting! No ifs, ands, or buts about it: This is a horrible concept and is poorly executed. It’s a cake soaked so heavily with rum that you can feel an intense dampness just by touching it. When you bite it, the rum flavor is so intense that you can’t even taste the cake. In fact, it might as well just be a shot of rum, and if that’s the case, then the cake is honestly interfering with all its extra tasteless fluff. 0.0/5.0. If I could give a negative score, I would.
3. Almond Biscotti: Another failure. In fact, my family’s baked better biscotti than this. The biscotti itself is hard as a rock, so that I had to crush it with my teeth before tasting it. And for some reason it’s made using somewhat of a gingerbread-type batter, with spiced dough. That dough isn’t bad per se, but it really doesn’t seem to suit the biscotti, especially since it uses almonds. The flavor seems confused, as it’s one part herby/spiced and one part nutty, but neither flavor comes through really well. The one nice aspect is the use of actual, large chunks of almonds, which are so generously tossed into the cookie that you get some nut in every bite. 1.5/5.0

Scores

Ambience: 2.0/5.0 (Not factored into verdict)
Taste: 1.5/5.0
Value: 1.5/5.0. Huge and filling treats for very low prices, but I still don’t think I’d pay for most of these treats.
Overall: 1.5/5.0