Mike's Pastry in Boston

[Solon]

A friend just got back from a conference in Boston (were you there wuapinmon?). When this friend's wife called my wife for pointers on what to do while hubby was in sessions, my wife told her to make a pilgrimage to the famous Mike's Pastry in Boston's north end and try their cannoli.

In gratitude, they brought us back 6 or 7 of our own.

I've literally gorged myself sick. Good times.

(PS - Kudos to Mormon Red Death for introducing me to the place)

[TripletDaddy]

We went here on the advice of some friends. We stood in line for about 25 minutes. We ordered cannoli. It was good (not amazing). We also sampled a few other profiteroles. Again, good, but not amazing.

I have zero plans of ever going back to this place because the quality is not worth the wait.

There was another bakery on the South side, called Flour Bakery. That place was very interesting. I have been back there a couple of times and I don't have to wait in line with 300 other folks that just finished eating lasagna in the North End.

I would recommend checking out Flour if you are so inclined. But if you absolutely have to check Mike's Pastry off your to-do list, it is good. Just don't expect to be amazed.

[Solon]

We went here on the advice of some friends. We stood in line for about 25 minutes. We ordered cannoli. It was good (not amazing). We also sampled a few other profiteroles. Again, good, but not amazing.

I have zero plans of ever going back to this place because the quality is not worth the wait.

There was another bakery on the South side, called Flour Bakery. That place was very interesting. I have been back there a couple of times and I don't have to wait in line with 300 other folks that just finished eating lasagna in the North End.

I would recommend checking out Flour if you are so inclined. But if you absolutely have to check Mike's Pastry off your to-do list, it is good. Just don't expect to be amazed.

How amazing can a pastry be? It's good. That's as much as my philistine palate can register.

[Surfah]

I'll probably end up on Il Paddy's list but cannolis are gross. There are a thousand other desserts better than cannolis.

[TripletDaddy]

How amazing can a pastry be? It's good. That's as much as my philistine palate can register.

Well, I think that a good patisserie is always thinking of new things. But once you eat a few cannoli from Mike's, you will start to experience diminishing marginal utility and you will know when you stumble across something better. Your philistine palate is probably more refined that for which you give it credit.

Mike's was good. I was just turned off by how long we had to wait for something that wasn't THAT good. If you enjoyed the quality of Mike's then I would definitely suggest checking out a smaller bakery where there are some cool concepts and the presentation is much better.

Mike's is great if you are on vacation and you want to wait in a line and get that box tied up with string (literally) that they give you. Maybe buy a t shirt. And the location is convenient because it is right there in the thick of all the North End stuff. If I am not mistaken, don't they also sell ice cream with toppings off on one side of the room? It had a very Disneyland feel to it.

[il Padrino Ute]

I'll probably end up on Il Paddy's list but cannolis are gross. There are a thousand other desserts better than cannolis.

I'm not a big fan of cannoli. I like them, but agree that there are other desserts that are better.

[wuapinmon]

A friend just got back from a conference in Boston (were you there wuapinmon?). When this friend's wife called my wife for pointers on what to do while hubby was in sessions, my wife told her to make a pilgrimage to the famous Mike's Pastry in Boston's north end and try their cannoli.

In gratitude, they brought us back 6 or 7 of our own.

I've literally gorged myself sick. Good times.

(PS - Kudos to Mormon Red Death for introducing me to the place)

No, our professional development was frozen this year. I'm going to a Borges conference at Hofstra in November with the little I have left.

[Shakey]

I went to Mike's a couple of times last summer. Whenever someone visited my daughter in Boston, she took them there, which is high praise because she pretty much turns her nose up at most pastry shops. I'm not sure if it was the pastries or the experience because she said she knew better shops in the area, but would continue to take people to Mike's.

Would Mike's be considered more Italian? I know it is in the North End, where most of the Italian places are. She was trained by a French master pastry chef who was apparently a god in France before coming here.

[TripletDaddy]

I went to Mike's a couple of times last summer. Whenever someone visited my daughter in Boston, she took them there, which is high praise because she pretty much turns her nose up at most pastry shops. I'm not sure if it was the pastries or the experience because she said she knew better shops in the area, but would continue to take people to Mike's.

I was hoping you would chime in re: your daughter. I figured she would have her ear to the ground when it came to all things "pastry" in Boston.

Is she back in Utah now?

[Shakey]

I was hoping you would chime in re: your daughter. I figured she would have her ear to the ground when it came to all things "pastry" in Boston.

Is she back in Utah now?

I will ask her tonight about the other places. I'm thinking she must really like Mike's, though. She and her roommates went there a lot. On the other hand, she always went to some pizza place that wasn't as good as Nicolitalia in Provo, so maybe she just went to places that were fun. On a related note, the guy who owns Nicolitalia's father owns a pizza place that was about three minutes away from her place in Sommerville and she would still go to the crap place.

She's back here doing pastries for a bakery. She is starting to do weddings, both catering and cakes, but she's stuck in a corporate bakery following recipes for the time being (and not to happy about it, but a job right now is hard to come by). She wants to open up her own bakery, but she is officially off of my dime now. She has a few feelers out for more creative pastries, so we'll see what comes.

Here's my idea for my next recipe posting. You know those restaurant-recipe-turned-low-fat columns that run in newspapers? I have an idea for a good pastry recipe that is fairly time-consuming and then posting a similar easy-to-do recipe. The first one will be about eclairs. I have crap to do tonight, but I'll post it this week sometime.

[CJF]

I went to Mike's a couple of times last summer. Whenever someone visited my daughter in Boston, she took them there, which is high praise because she pretty much turns her nose up at most pastry shops. I'm not sure if it was the pastries or the experience because she said she knew better shops in the area, but would continue to take people to Mike's.

Would Mike's be considered more Italian? I know it is in the North End, where most of the Italian places are. She was trained by a French master pastry chef who was apparently a god in France before coming here.

There is a place about a block up and on the other side of the street from Mike's. It was very good. I was told that is where most of the Italian places in Little Italy order their desserts from. There was a little wait but not like Mike's. Mike's has turn into a tourist trap with their kits and and stuff. It's good, but it's not worth the line out the door wait in my opinion.

[kccougar]

I don't know why anyone would want to wait in line for Mike's when there are so many other choices in the North End. I was amazed at how many bakeries were on each block. Mike's can't be the only one that is good.

When we were there, mrskccougar was going full speed ahead with her cupcake business so we were looking for those. We did find a few bakeries that specialized in cupcakes, but they were only average.

On the other hand, I would (and did) wait for a table at Regina's in the North End for some very good pizza.

[BigPiney]

I think the bakery in Little Italy in San Diego does them better, than that place in Boston.