Picture this: a warmly lit, charming entryway, almost like a little hallway, welcomes you in. It feels like you are stepping into a luxury hotel, and the display you see is the most pastel, colorful, light, powdered-sugar-dusted pastries, softly illuminated by nice warm lights. Okay, I’m done being dramatic now. Well, no need to imagine it — just visit Angelina’s Bakery in New York, and the scene will set itself. Every pastry is decadent. I know I use that word too often, but really, Angelina’s pastries are the very definition of decadent and rich flavors that are of high quality specialty desserts. My personal favorite dessert selections from them are the bombolones and cannolis. Of all their most elaborately decorated desserts, they are the best, and the flavors selection is classy and timeless.
For those who do not know, bombolones are an Italian filled doughnut, and every single bombolone is filled with flavorful, indulgent pastry cream. For example, the pistachio is very heavily pistachio-flavored and reminds me of the Dubai chocolate filling. The strawberry flavor is both refreshing and heavy, but the donuts themselves are very light and fluffy, and somehow the powdered sugar dusted on top makes them taste like you are biting into a cloud. The cannolis are so pretty to look at, you do not feel like eating them, but the way one side is dipped in chocolate chips and the other in an ingredient that matches the flavor—like the strawberry cannoli having a quarter of a strawberry on one side—makes them even more special. The shell is not soggy like some other places I know, but crisp and flaky. The luscious filling is similar to the bombolone, but you get a hint of that sweet ricotta taste. I could not get my hands on their pistachio cannoli, but I remember the filling being fluffy and more lightly pistachio-flavored, though the flavor was still very prominent.
Okay, but I want to take a moment to appreciate how artistic the tarts and mousses look. I mean, I had a few of them before, but once again, it is one of those desserts where the name itself is mouthwatering, like Raspberry & Pistachio Mousse. The presentation is extravagant. The lemon mousse is shaped like a lemon, and the tiramisu mousse is shaped like a coffee cup. My favorite is the chocolate tart. It is piped with dollops of whipped cream and chestnut paste vermicelli. They are decorated like fine French pastries or like desserts at Michelin-starred restaurants. The croissants — I don’t even know where to start. They have the two classics, strawberry and pistachio, and also raspberry Nutella, along with the “brissant”, which is a mix of brioche and croissant and is so unique to Angelina’s. I remember the strawberry being good. It resembles the texture of the cannoli, with a flaky exterior and creamy interior. On my latest visit, I picked up the strawberry and pistachio bombolone and a strawberry cannoli, and The Stute’s amazing layout editor, Eiliyah, accompanied me on my journey and can testify to the aesthetic of every pastry.
