A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

I love a good restaurant rivalry. It’s like the New Haven pizza rivalry, are you a Pepe’s or a Sally’s? Here, it is the battle of the cannoli, are you a Mike’s Pastry or a Modern Pastry (maybe a Bova’s)? The shops are located across the street from one another in the North End and on any given day there is a line out the door and down the block. Mike’s seems to be more popular with the tourists and Modern with the locals. Both accept cash only. The Mike’s location in the North End is small, there are a few tables in the front and the counter is in the back. Half the fun is drooling over all the desserts in the case and deciding which one (or six) you want.

The Harvard Square location is even smaller than the North End location, with even fewer seats, mainly just a counter by the window. I was a little disappointed when I got there that they have all of the pastry in the back, and only one sample of each for “display only”.

I picked up a few cannolis and a cream puff. In my head I just felt like the cannolis were different – kind of like how the red and green pasta takes different than the regular pasta or how the pizza from any of the other Pizzaria Regina’s just doesn’t taste as good as the original. I’d go back in a pinch, the location is certainly a bit more convenient for me in Cambridge, but there is just something charming about the character of the North End location that you can’t replicate.

Mike’s Pastry

11 Dunster Street, Cambridge, MA

www.mikespastry.com

Tags: cambridge, cash only, dessert, pastry