Hilltown Cannoli

Hilltown Hotpies
Egremont, MA

This year’s best cannoli didn’t come from any of the Italian-American bakeries I toured while taking my kids on a red sauce roadtrip across the Northeast. It came unexpectedly, in Egremont, Massachusetts at the tail end of our meal at Hilltown Hotpies, a pizza pop-up turned brick and mortar from chef Rafi Bildner. Thin-shelled yet not overly delicate, stuffed with amarena cherry-scented light ricotta bookended by bitter dark chocolate chips. It was extraordinary, a showcase for what balance and restraint can achieve in a dessert that rides the line between sweet and savory. It has been 6 months since that dinner, and the note I took after finishing our meal is still as true today as it was then: “Nobody does cannoli like this.” —Chris Morocco

Yuzu and Jasmine Eclair

Milli by Metric
Chicago, IL

The pastry game at Milli by Metric in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood is no joke. Head baker Lou Turner (formerly pastry chef at Obelix, a French bistro in the city’s River North) churns out superb pastries that invite obsession. The place is stunning, and predictably, the coffee game is on point. (Metric roasts its coffee on site, as well.) On my visit, a drizzly Chicago day that forced me to slow down and linger, I went up to the pastry counter three times, eventually buying out 90% of the case, my curiosity unsated until I tried everything. (I had a friend with me; I’m not a gluttonous Studio Ghibli character, I promise.) Don’t expect too many repeats here; Turner bakes with the seasons, with interesting flavor combos. Think pawpaw caramel eclairs during early autumn, or ever-shifting canelé depending on available produce. The highlight of my visit: a yuzu-jasmine eclair that was as delicate as a glass slipper. Impossibly creamy with a crackly, pleasing shell, it tasted like a dream of spring, despite the weather outside. —J.H.

Okinawa Black Sugar Canelé

Parachute
San Francisco, CA

I’d brought a dining companion to San Francisco’s Ferry Building, promising him we’d share as many pastries as he could handle as we caught up. I think he was slightly disappointed to find that all I could talk about was Parachute Bakery’s black Okinawa sugar canelé. I couldn’t help myself. It was profoundly, soul-settlingly delicious. Black sugar has a distinctly molasses quality which, in a canelé, makes for a deeply caramelized flavor that you just don’t find in other pastry. Small but mighty, Parachute’s canelé is a powerhouse of a little treat. —Sam Stone

Seasonal ice cream at Bar Chenin in DetroitPhotograph by Joseph Hernandez

Ice Cream and a Glass of Wine

Bar Chenin
Detroit, MI

Bar Chenin is the little wine bar that could. A wine geek’s fever dream, this teeny tiny 10-seater tucked into Detroit’s Siren Hotel feels like a genuine discovery if you can grab a seat. The name of the game is an energetic wine list favoring biodynamic and natural wines, snacks, cocktails and… ice cream. It’s low-lit, convivial, and transportive—it feels like a French wine cave or a Spanish tapas joint airdropped into the heart of Detroit. The kitchen is small but mighty—don’t skip the Detroit pie, which reminds me of the Scholastic Book Fair pizza party prize of my long-gone youth. Or, keep it simple: Pair an ephemeral bottle of wine with ever-changing scoops of sorbet, gelato, or ice cream in flavors like raspberry-basil, strawberry, even sourdough soft serve if you’re lucky enough to be in town for the occasion. —J.H.