Best Cannoli Italian Kitchen
27 W. Congress St. STAFF PICK: We've been searching for the perfect cannoli
for well onto a year now, and we're here to say it hasn't been
easy. After a particularly dismal experience at a reputable local
Italian restaurant, we even went so far as to lower our standards.
So imagine our delight--nay, euphoria--when we discovered the
cannolis at downtown's Italian Kitchen. There they were,
right under our noses all the while, in the neglected deli case
just out of our line of sight (we were always distracted by the
maw of the kitchen's pizza oven, purveyor of those fantastic slices
of pie and overstuffed calzones). The cannolis here are the perfect
size (small enough to eat two, but large enough qualify as a pastry
rather than a finger-food). The marscarpone filling is delicately
rather than cloyingly sweet; and creamy without losing its firm
texture. They go the route of the chocolate-chip variety (mini
ones on either end), but the filling is infused with a subtle
nuttiness that we think is Amaretto-inspired. Best of all, the
fried shell is the appropriate balance between thin and sturdy.
Now if only we could catch them before they go into that deli
case (where the unavoidable humidity musses with their charms)...Mama
mia!
