Smaller bakeries/patisseries

[SteveW]

Cannolis are usually filled with ricotta(that's the Sicilian cannoli version). Alternatively custard or chocolate fillings can be used. Alati pastry shop I know has all three of these fillings available. San Marco has at least ricotto & custard fillings available(they probably have the chocolate filling but I didn't ask).

Carswell to make your Montreal cannoli test much more complete, you need to check the cannolis at Alati pastry shop soon to compare with Alati Caserta & San Marco. What you posted here of your taste test between AS & SM cannolis are fascinating.

-Steve

Edited May 11, 2004 by SteveW (log)

[Culatello]

Carswell

Now that you've tried 2nd Best take the unpleasant journey to St.Leonard a & try the Best Cannoli's in the City

[Culatello]

sorry

Edited May 11, 2004 by Culatello (log)

[Culatello]

Me again

Edited May 11, 2004 by Culatello (log)

[Culatello]

I pushed enter 3 times sorry

Edited May 11, 2004 by Culatello (log)

[carswell]

I always thought cannoli's were made with macarpone, I know the difference is slim but mascarpone has this grainy nutty taste not always found in ricotta.

Hmm. I've often found it to be the other way around. Ricotta, especially the stuff that comes in plastic tubs, can have a grainy, cottage cheese-like texture and a nutty taste that I associate with whey products. (The fresh ricotta available at Milano and other Italian stores has an incomparably finer texture and fresher taste.) Mascarpone, on the other hand, is essentially Italian cream cheese.

Steve's right about the cannoli fillings, BTW. Ricotta is classic. Don't recall ever running across a mascarpone-filled cannoli, though.

[carswell]

Cannolis are usually filled with ricotta (that's the Sicilian cannoli version). Alternatively custard or chocolate fillings can be used. Alati pastry shop I know has all three of these fillings available. San Marco has at least ricotto & custard fillings available (they probably have the chocolate filling but I didn't ask).

San Marco didn't offer me any choice of fillings; as far as I know, ricotta was the only option. I did ask about their lobster tails, however. The default filling is crema (crème chantilly), though they will fill them with ricotta on request. Three sizes are available (small, medium, large) and all must be ordered in advance.

Carswell to make your Montreal cannoli test much more complete, you need to check the cannolis at Alati pastry shop soon to compare with Alati Caserta & San Marco.

In the best of all possible worlds, yes. On the other hand, the idea of a two-hour schlepp for the sole purpose of tasting a ricotta-filled pastry tube gives me pause. Meanwhile, there's nothing to stop you or another eGulleter from stepping up to the plate, you know...

[carswell]

Now that you've tried 2nd Best take the unpleasant journey to St.Leonard a & try the Best Cannoli's in the City

Not to belabour the point, but initially five out of five and later three out of five tasters in my unscientific survey preferred Alati-Caserta's cannoli to San Marco's, and that included me.

[carswell]

Flitting around the Web, I ran across a post from an out-of-towner who seemed knowledgable about Middle Eastern food and the Montreal food scene. After stating that Montreal was North America's best city for Middle Eastern cooking (not the first time I've heard this claim made) and expressing regret at having found no local equivalent to Alep and Daou, he said that Pâtisserie Mahrouse (1010 de Liège West corner of L'Acadie, 514 279-1629) makes baklawas that are not only Montreal's finest but "arguably the best in the western hemisphere."

Never been, never even heard of it. Have any of you eGulleters sampled their wares? Is it worth going out of one's way for?

Edited July 27, 2004 by carswell (log)

[unreserved]

Never been, never even heard of it. Have any of you eGulleters sampled their wares? Is it worth going out of one's way for?

It absolutely is worth going out of your way. Only when they are closed do I buy elsewhere and I regret it each time.

[carswell]

Never been, never even heard of it. Have any of you eGulleters sampled their wares? Is it worth going out of one's way for?

It absolutely is worth going out of your way. Only when they are closed do I buy elsewhere and I regret it each time.

Thanks, Anthony. That's all I needed to know. Will be going out of my way soon. Real soon.

Business hours: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday.