Petsi Pies, Somerville. Map
28 Inman Square. Also Map 27 Central Square/Cambridgeport
This is no pie in the sky.
It’s only the best pies around without your grandmother in the kitchen. Rene
McLeod (Petsi was her childhood name) learned a lot of her panache from her
Nanny Shields. If you can bake love into pies, Rene does it. The chocolate sour
cream cake, for example, was her Nanny’s. The coconut cake is her own, though.
Her signal pie is sweet potato. Mashed up bits of the humble tuber – just
enough firmness, and not too sweet. The starchiness balances the sugar. The
pecan pie is Petsi’s second celeb in the house. The nuts soak up the corn syrup
to plump perfection. The blueberry pie is less sweet than most due to a mystery
guest: cloves. Petsi’s crusts are never soggy. They do soak up juices but maintain body. And pies are not all. There’s
a selection of savory tarts, such as the spinach, ricotta, and pine nut one.
There are two locations. Petsi wields the rolling pin in Somerville, while some
friendly dudes figure out how to cut pies into sevens out of Cambridge. That
one’s a ten minute walk from Harvard Square.
Gigi Gelateria. North End,
Boston. Map 2 North End/Fanieul Hall
There is a famous gelateria
called San Crispino’s on the Via della Pannetteria near the Trevi Fountain in
Rome that Romans are satisfied to make the centerpiece of their evenings out.
The North End’s Gigi Gelateria can fill the homesick void of far-flung Romans.
It’s the brainchild of restaurateur Frank de Pasquale (Umbria, Bricco), who
lured two master gelato maestros from the old land to turn out tubs of the
concoction in his basement here. But this is no boiler room operation. They
churn out fifty flavors of sweet artistry. Dieters can relax. While ice cream
has 16% butterfat, gelato here has on 2.5%, and this store uses no cream at all
– only milk. The mix is churned more slowly for a denser product and is served
at a slightly higher temperature for a softer texture. Cold tanks run about
fifteen feet, with one stubby one capping off the shop at the sidewalk to
entice the unsuspecting. Metal wells run 2 deep and 23 long. OK, so that’s 46
flavors. If only I had to calculate on this grid in math class! Zabaione, a custard
flavor that reminds you of eggnog, is superb. Panna cotta is the Italian Crème
Brule. Cassata Siciliana is ricotta, fruit bits, and chocolate chips. But my
money’s on the melon. Bursting with cantaloupe flavor that’s somehow stronger
than the fruit. It could keep a Roman in Boston.
Donna’s Cakes. West Roxbury.
Map unknown
Ever take a bite of a cake
and say to yourself, “Something’s wrong”? You know, the cake part’s fine, but
the icing has that Oleo taste, as if it were made from rocket fuel (Twinkies
actually once had a component found in such). Or the icing is fine, but the cake part is dry, like someone
undid the stop and let all the air out. Donna’s Cakes gets cake and icing right. Synchronicity. The
cake is moist yet firm, But the real standout is the icing. All butter cream.
You can eat it by itself (I do). Donna
has been creating masterworks for 18 years. She started by taking a class in a
cake-maker’s home. She did the same before opening this storefront in quiet
West Roxbury. Give Donna an idea, and she’ll make it reality. Traditional
wedding cakes to Big Bird. How about a beehive cake with bees swarming around
the hive? My four-year old cousin got
treated on his b-day with a construction site. The toy bulldozer pushed a pile
of dirt (chocolate cake crumbs). Now she’s doing computerized images into
frosting.
