Cannoli Crawl in the City

Editor's note: the following is a guest post from my sister, Rayna, about the "Cannoli Crawl" we did this past weekend. —Kunal

My friends are often surprised to find out that cannoli are one of my favorite desserts. In their defense, I talk about ice cream far more frequently. Still, I'm always on the lookout for cannoli when eating at Italian resturants and am often left disappointed. I had some fantastic cannoli in Philadelphia last November, so it was fresh on my mind when planning out this weekend's visit to New York City.

I spent the last week searching different Reddit threads and food blogs to compile a list of the most-loved cannoli in the city. I was naively expecting most of them to be in Little Italy, but the recommendations included one place in The Bronx and a few deep in Brooklyn. We only made it to four of the places on the list, which means there are still more places to visit next time.

The rating system is not as detailed as Kunal's Boba Quest but we did our best to detail our likes and dislikes. Along for the journey were Kunal's girlfriend, Kajol, and her sister, Mannat. Unfortunately, while all of the places we tried had nut-free cannoli options, they wouldn't guarantee that they were nut-allergy safe because of possible cross-contamination. As a result, it's mostly thoughts from myself, Kunal, and Mannat.

Our first stop: La Bella Ferrara in Little Italy, which had a good selection of mini- and regular-sized cannoli. Flavors included tiramisu, cookies and cream, red velvet, and more, but we started with the original to keep it simple.

Rayna: 8/10 I liked the sweetness of the filling and the variety of the options available. I appreciated that the chocolate chips were spread throughout the filling, but wanted more of them.

Kunal: 8/10 My biggest complaint was that the shell fell apart in my hands as soon as I took a bite.

Mannat: 9/10 My first-ever cannoli, I was very happy with the new dessert. I also wanted more chocolate chips.

Overall, a really promising start to the Cannoli Crawl!

One block over: Caffé Palermo, which advertises itself as the home of the "Cannoli King". They had lots of cannoli themed decor, including a giant plastic cannoli. We went a little off-script, getting some non-original flavors.

Rayna, hazelnut flavor: 5.5/10 The hazelnut flavor was good, but the pastry shell was unimpressive. There were also not enough chocolate chips, but they get half a point back because the cannoli were served with powdered sugar. Kunal is unhappy I am awarding half points, but it's my blog post so I make the rules.

Kunal, original: 6/10 The flavor was eh and the shell broke while eating.

Mannat, cookies and cream: 6/10 It just tasted like cream with crushed cookies on the outside — the flavor wasn't consistent. The shell also wasn't good, but the powdered sugar was nice.

Overall, we were unimpressed. :(

Around the corner was our third stop: Ferrara Bakery and Cafe, where they only had regular and chocolate dipped shells, so we all chose the former. Kajol took a bite of this one, so her review is included too.

Rayna: 8/10 I liked the cream and the pastry shell, but this one was severely lacking in chocolate chips — I think I got four in my entire cannoli. They also only had one size, unlike the previous two places which had mini and regular options.

Kunal: 7/10 This was the best cream so far but the shell broke apart too fast.

Mannat: 7/10 Agreed that this was the best cream so far but I wasn't a fan of the shell — it was too crumbly and needed more flavor. It also needed more chocolate chips.

Kajol: 9/10 The cream and shell were both pretty good but they lose a point for not having enough chocolate chips.

For our last stop, we went to Pasticceria Rocco in the West Village. These were the only cannoli to be filled fresh, the effect of which is easily apparent in our ratings 😅. With only one size available, they had two options for the ends: dipped in chocolate chips or crushed pistachios. We all opted for chocolate chips.

Rayna: 10/10 The flavor was fantastic, along with the amount of chocolate chips on the ends. The shell was also the right texture and didn't fall apart. It would have been nice if the chocolate chips went throughout but the fresh filling was the star and made up for any shortcomings.

Kunal: 9/10 This was easily the best of the day; the cream was fresh and the shell didn't instantly fall apart in my hands.

Mannat: 10/10 This was great but I still liked the first one best.

At this point we were out of time and also cold, so we passed on the original plan of also visiting two spots in Brooklyn and one in Astoria — we'll save those for next time.

All in all, the Cannoli Crawl was a success. Pasticceria Rocco is our clear favorite, while Caffe Palermo was the biggest letdown. I am extremely content with how we spent our afternoon and my cannoli craving has been satisfied, for now.