Cannoli Wars – Mike’s Pastry vs. Modern Pastry – Boston, MA
Boston. It may be called Beantown, but it also has one of the most vibrant Italian neighborhoods in the country. Known as the North End, this immigrant hideaway located in the north east section of downtown, brings diners from near and far to sample some of the best Italian food that you’ll find anywhere.
Take a stroll down Hanover Street, the main thoroughfare, and you’ll pass elderly Italian gentlemen leaning back in their chairs on the sidewalk playing cards, chatting about who knows what, and sipping their stout espressos. Nonni are seen in their modest dresses and flat black shoes carrying grocery bags and wheeling carts filled with their shopping bags to their apartments located above the businesses. The smells of gravy, meats, and pasta fill the air. Trucks are stopped in the street while delivering packages to the stores and people dart across the street, ignoring traffic, to find the best that each shop or restaurant has to offer.
Hanover Street
During the day, most visitors to the North End are here to experience sensory overload and to have a rich and creamy espresso and eat cannoli. And while many restaurants serve cannoli, there are two shops that will cause an argument in the street over whose cannoli is best. Modern vs. Mike’s. The cannoli wars.
The North End of Boston
I moved to Boston from the Midwest many years ago. Boston was a culinary playground. Different towns and districts served up some of the best food I had eaten and given my Italian ancestry, the North End was one of my favorite places to spend a day. The smells of the food being prepared for the evening dinners, the salumi hanging above the counters and in the windows, and Italians speaking the native language and laughing together in the streets made this place special. I love the North End.
As a newcomer, I was told about the cannoli in the North End and it was suggested I go to Mike’s Pastry. I’ll never forget entering the shop where there was a wall of cannoli to choose from. There must have been 20 varieties. Sure, there’s the typical cannoli filled with ricotta cheese and the chocolate chip adorned cannoli, but Mike’s takes things to the cannoli extreme. How about Limoncello, Amaretto, hazelnut and of course pistachio. These are the flavors of Italy, so of course, there’s a cannoli for that!
There are lots of cannoli flavor choices at Mike’s
Mike’s doesn’t stop there. To appeal to a more American audience they have added Oreo, mint chip, chocolate dipped, and even pecan caramel. Sounds like Baskin-Robbins. There were hundreds of cannoli in the case, ready to be boxed and served.
And then there are these!
For years I had relied on Mike’s for my cannoli fix and after moving south, I often thought about Mike’s. Recently, we traveled to Boston and I mentioned Mike’s to a friend. She and Gwen said you mean Modern. This led to quite the discussion about cannoli and my obvious lack of local knowledge. I guess as a newcomer I never questioned where to get a cannolo (yes, cannolo is singular of cannoli) in Boston, but after talking to several local friends, it became obvious that there is strong passion about cannoli and where to find the best. Maybe this is what the older gentlemen were talking about in their chairs.
The Challengers: Mike’s Pastry and Modern Pastry
So, with new information, I set out on a mission to find the best tasting cannoli. First stop, Mike’s. Well, there are actually 18 flavors. We selected the plain and pistachio. The server, though very slow and very distracted chatting with the other servers, boxed up our cannoli and tied it in twine with a cute bow. We took our box containing two cannoli and headed across the street and 100 yards west to Modern Pastry.
Mike’s Pastry
I had been to Modern Pastry before, but quite frankly, there has been quite a transformation in the old-style shop that used to sell freshly made cannoli and Italian cookies. It’s now a beautiful cafe and pastry shop and the cannoli almost seem to have taken a back seat since the other pastries are displayed in glass cases, while the cannoli (as always) are prepared when ordered.
Modern Pastry
A family-owned store that has been in business for 70 years, Modern has won numerous awards. Our turn came and I asked for two cannoli. As I was talking, the server picked the lid off a glass jar on the counter, pulled out two empty and small cannoli shells and went to the back. He came back with two freshly stuffed cannoli, asked if we wanted powdered sugar, dusted them with the powdery white stuff when we said yes, and placed them in a small box, wrapped it with twine and sealed it with a twine bow. The twine bow must be a thing.
We took our two boxes and headed to the nearest park bench to sample our cannoli. Drum roll, please.
The Winner
Mike’s was everything I remembered. The fried cannoli shell was hard and filled with lots of flavorful cream. The cannoli are so large I bet you can’t eat one… and I do mean one. They are very filling.
On to Modern Pastry. The dainty little cannoli were much smaller, maybe one-third the size of Mike’s, and the first bite told the story. The fried shell is much thinner, crisper, and more flavorful and the cream filling is smoother, fresher tasting, and so delicious. There were no extra flavors to hide the creamy ricotta flavor. It stood on its own and proudly declared itself the winner.
Going back to take a bite of one of Mike’s cannoli, I realized the shell is just too hard and thick to really enjoy the cream. The cream in Mike’s had been in the shell, in that showcase, allowing it to dry out and was not smooth and rich.
We spoke to several people on the street to get their impressions of Mike’s vs. Modern and the bottom line is, “Tourists like Mike’s, locals like Modern.” I can understand why. If you want the wide selection with lots of flavors and colors to choose from, then Mike’s is the place, but if you’re looking for an authentic Italian cannolo, Modern Pastry wins hands down.
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We did enjoy the the cupcakes and cheese cakes at Modern, for this I give them a 3 star rating. As a local of Boston I eat on the North End EVERY SAT night, and we found rather odd how so many in this Italian business district say modern makes the best cannolis. Makes..? Really…stay tuned. After finding it odd, SEEING A PATTERN that the people of Boston think it’s their job to tell people that Modern makes the best cannoli, I decided to investigate. Can everyone be wrong I said? Maybe I think Mike’s is the best, but maybe Modern is better? So my wife and I went to Mike’s and bought a chocolate chip cannoli plain ricotta filling & went to Modern Pastry and bought the same In our room we separated the 2 plain shell chocolate chip cannolis. We both agreed the shell was very hard in sample #2 which was Modern. Here is why. Notice at Mike’s they advertise “Handmade Homemade Shells”. They are the only one that do! The cannoli shell was so fresh at Mikes I had traces of oil they fried the shell in on my fingers. Modern, Maria’s and others will fill the shell (they did not make) in front of you to order, opposed to Mikes where the 18 varieties will come out already filled in trays. There is a line around the corner for Mike’s Pastry, if Mike’s had to fill each cannoli upon order there would be a line back to the Zakim bridge. So people take advantage of this and add shelf life to the cannolis when they were out for about 5 to 15 minutes as trays are constantly coming out to serve supply in demand. One time I wanted a chocolate covered cannoli and the girl said wait a few minutes they are coming out, & they did in about 4 minutes, so they are being made continuously. There are many cafe’s and shops that sell pastry and they see a line whipped around Mikes Pastry extending into the other street and they are frustrated that Mike’s is getting all the business. Stop the lies, and stop poisoning people minds that visit Boston! Get the facts straight like I did that Mike’s is the only place in Boston that hand makes their own shells. They are the only shop that has 18 different cannolis with and extra pumpkin spice in the fall. They are all good on the North End but Mike’s is the King of the Cannoli. This is not designed to take business away from anyone. There is no “who makes the best cannoli in Boston” because you would need more than one pastry shop to actually make the cannoli opposed to filling packaged ones. Mike’s MAKES their cannoli by hand in house, other buy their shells in packages from vendors and simply fills them. The shell at Mike’s is MUCH softer because it is homemade in house, Modern had a hard crispy shell, not fresh. Modern admits they buy their shells from the Golden Cannoli in Somerville MA, & the Golden Cannoli stated their shell can last 365 days frozen, so which place has the questionable shelf life? The Food Network confirmed (you tube) that Mike’s makes 5000-7000 shells a day, do the research.
Our experience has been the cannoli shell at Mikes is much thicker, necessary to handle the much larger size of the cannoli, typical of the style found in Palermo, Sicily, in Piana degli Albanesi, and the softness should not be a result of being fresh as any fried food becomes soft as it sits due to further oil absorption. Additionally, when the cheese is placed in the cannolo, the shell will draw moisture from the cheese causing it to become soft. When you make 18 varieties that sit out on display it is to be expected that the shell will become softer. We did note that they were not soft at the edges where the cheese was not touching. Making something in-house doesn’t make it better. Our rating was based on the crispness, texture and the flavor of the shell, the freshness, flavor, and the creaminess of the cheese. As mentioned, both bakery shops have their followers and always a good argument over who’s best.
I’ve heard it before and still won’t believe it. I disagree entirely as Mike’s just tastes better. It’s sweeter vs Modern’s that’s a more subtle flavor. Modern is flakier, yes, but messier and not what I want in a dessert. I’m fine with being branded a tourist, but I keep going back to Mike’s for a reason!
Modern Pastry cannoli are much closer to authentic Italian cannoli (by authentic I mean those hand made in Italy) from many points. At Modern Pastry fill them not in the morning (as at Mike’s) but as customer’s place order. Surely, they don’t have appealing Mike’s display of twenty kinds. But here is a trick. Cannoli must have a crispy shell and a cool smooth riccotta. Allow shell sitting for a few hours with cream, and you notice a difference (Mike’s cannoli even have soft edges). Modern Pastry’s cannoli are much closer in size to real Italian ones, they are thinner, crispier.
One last important fact: cannoli is a simple treat. It is either plain riccotta or pistacchio. All right, sometimes chocolate chip. Mike’s works hard to satisfy American’s constant desire for endless choices, so as a result very weird combinations are created at Mike’s they can be called “cannoli” with a great reserve. Mike’s cannoli are decent heavily americanized oversized treats loaded with sugar and extra ingredients.
I like Bova’s, right down the street…