these italian pastries look like lobster tails and clamshells — they taste even better
beneath the extra-crunchy, ribbed exterior lies a not-too-sweet mix of semolina, ricotta and sugar, flavoured with orange zest.
2 minute read
joe calabro
jean levac
/
postmedia
pasticceria gelateria italiana
200 preston st., 613-233-2104, italianpastryshop.ca
lobster tail pastries.
jean levac
/
postmedia
open: wednesday to sunday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., closed monday, tuesday
prices: $6.45 for a sfogliatelle, $7.45 for a lobster tail
access: steps to front door
joe calabro knows when his sfogliatelle and lobster tail pastries are at their absolute best.
“right after it’s out of the oven,” says calabro, who has owned the venerable preston street bakery pasticceria gelateria italiana since 1979. “that’s when it’s nice and crunchy.”
it’s calabro’s well-earned prerogative if he wants to taste his creations when they’re optimally delicious. the self-taught pastry chef has won more medals for his european treats over the last 45 years than you could shake a whisk at. he even represented ontario at a prestigious james beard foundation dinner in new york in 2011.
still, a room-temperature lobster tail or sfogliatelle is a pretty snazzy treat if you can snag one of the dozen or so of either pastry made and sold only on fridays, saturdays, and sundays.
i’m partial to the sfogliatelle, even if it confounds me to say its name out loud. why is “sfol-ya-tel-le” so difficult?
sfogliatelle are only available on fridays, saturdays and sundays at pasticceria gelateria italiana on preston street.
jean levac
/
postmedia
what i like most is that beneath its extra-crunchy, ribbed exterior lies a not-too-sweet mix of semolina, ricotta and sugar, flavoured with orange zest.
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sfogliatelle taste like treats with a history behind them, and indeed, internet sources say that while the baked good is associated with naples, its origins date back to the 1600s and a monastery on italy’s amalfi coast, where the concoction was first called a santa rosa.
it has been said that a sfogliatelle resembles a nun’s hood. but i prefer to think of it as clamshell-shaped since its “big brother” pastry is shaped like, and named after a lobster tail. (its italian name is aragosta.)
with their incredible pleats, the two pastries are similarly impressive on the outside. but a lobster tail, which must have been inspired by a mammoth crustacean, is filled with pastry cream and surely something that must be shared. i saw one of calabro’s customers polish off a lobster tail by himself in the pastry shop’s dining area, and i thought to myself that he had competition-level eating chops.
both the sfogliatelle and lobster tails at calabro’s shop are generously dusted with powdered sugar. given that, i leave you with a warning. don’t wear black pants to pasticceria gelateria italiana, as i did.
do you have a favourite place to get a little treat in ottawa? send peter hum an e-mail to share your picks.
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other treats of the week:
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