Cannoli appears as a signature dish in 2 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
North End cannoli · Boston
The North End cannoli is a Sicilian-style fried pastry tube filled to order with sweetened ricotta cheese and dusted with powdered sugar or chocolate. The defining Italian-American pastry in Boston since the 1920s.
Sicilian immigrants brought the cannolo to Boston's North End in the 1880s and 1890s, when the neighbourhood became the city's Little Italy. Mike's Pastry opened on Hanover Street in 1946 and codified the to-order ricotta-filling template that prevents the shell going soggy. Modern Pastry, a few doors down at 257 Hanover, has filled cannoli at the counter since 1930. The Mike's-versus-Modern argument is the North End's longest-running tourist debate: Mike's wins on shell crunch and filling variety, Modern wins on cream balance and chocolate-dipped shells. Either house fills the shell only at the moment of purchase, never in advance.
Where to eat in Boston:
- Mike's Pastry
- Modern Pastry
Italian-American cannoli · Milwaukee
Cannoli are Italian-American crisp fried pastry shells filled with sweetened ricotta cheese and chocolate chips, dusted with powdered sugar.
Cannoli reached Milwaukee with the Sicilian immigrant population in the late 1800s and early 1900s, who settled the Brady Street neighborhood. Peter Sciortino opened his bakery on East Brady Street in 1948; his ricotta-filled cannoli became the canonical Milwaukee version. Festa Italiana on the lakefront each July features dozens of cannoli vendors. The Milwaukee cannoli uses fresh whole-milk ricotta and includes mini chocolate chips and citrus zest in the filling.
Where to eat in Milwaukee:
- Peter Sciortino's Bakery