North Beach is a neighborhood in San Francisco that I don't get around to very much. Sitting on the edge of Chinatown it tends to get very touristy and the narrow sidewalks crowd up with the hustle and bustle of people and cafe tables. Today, however, I found myself wandering through there and had a craving for something sweet. There are a couple Italian bakeries here and after eenie-meanie-minie-moeing I meandered into Stella Pastry and Cafe a staple in the area since 1942.
It's a small narrow space with 2 seater tables along one side and sweet cases along the other--and sweets choices they have a plenty......
Wanting something hearty and cakey I decided to go with their house specialty famous cake--sacripantina....
...a layered vanilla sponge cake with zabaione cream (a custard made of egg yolks, sweet butter, marsala wine and sherry) and rum. This was like a square creamy dream on a plate. The layers were light, moist and fluffy. The zabaione was creamy and light yet still filling. I tasted hints of citrus in the cream giving the cake a semblance of lemon chiffon-ness that was very appealing. Eating the rather large slice it felt like air yet was still satisfying to my taste buds and my stomach. I can't say I much tasted either the rum or masala or sherry. Maybe they could have kicked up the rum some more but it wasn't an overly sweet cake which alcohol can help offset, though would be interesting to see what more rum flavor would do to it. Either way I really enjoyed it as most people have which is probably why it's their house specialty and claim to fame. (Though can't say I'd ever heard of it before--but now I know.)
Of course, this being an Italian bakery and me being a dessert addict, I couldn't only try some cake I had to try their cannoli. Any place that is going to call themselves an Italian bakery needs to at least do a better than decent cannoli and fortunately they have achieved that here. The shell was nice and crisp perfectly fried to a smooth even tan. The filling was both thick and creamy with a zesty hint of citrus mixing nicely with the semi-sweet chocolate chips. Again, not an overly sweet dessert but a good balance of flavors between ricotta cheese and confectioners sugar. Bellissomo! Yeah, I could eat a dozen of these things.
Stella's was 2 for 2 and they have cases full of other things that look worthy of trying. Why I didn't get a few chocolate dipped cookies to go I'm not sure, oh yeah, it got crowded! One thing to note, when I first walked in it was mostly empty then with 5 minutes the place became packed with mostly tourists, it was like one of those open top buses just stopped out front and told people to go in. So be aware if you are not a crowds in small places fan, best to just circle the block till they disperse. Otherwise, if you are in the neighborhood and craving a little sugar rush, stop in, it will make your trip there a lot sweeter.
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