This is the season for Zeppole! For those that do not know what a Zeppole is, it is a light fried pastry with cream, mainly custard in the middle with a cherry on top. Many different Italian bakeries use other fillings, such as chocolate or cannoli filling, but the main ingredient in the traditional Zeppole is custard.
The Zeppole is also served on Saint Joseph’s day, the day after St. Patrick’s Day. This is a very popular holiday, celebrated by Catholics and mainly Italians.
I was informed by one of my subscribers to go check out what he felt was the best Italian bakery in regards to Zeppoles. I definitely had to check this place out.
The name of this Italian bakery is House of Cakes in Chicago.
The history on House of Cakes is that it has been around since 1987 and his family owned.
The small storefront is located off of Canfield Avenue. There is only street parking available. I want to reiterate that when it is busy parking sometimes can be hard to find.
I decided to go check them out on a Tuesday around 11 a.m. The moment that I walked in, I could see that this place is extremely small. It is no larger than the size of a small room. There were 6 to 8 people already waiting in line to be served.
I noticed that the majority of the people that were coming in for pastries all looked like old school regulars. The line did not move very fast and I noticed that the staff did not rush anyone with their orders. I would suggest possibly ordering ahead if you are in a rush and do not want to wait in line.
I was worried because I was noticing that in the display case, there was only a couple Zeppoles left and there were four people ahead of me. I did not want to make this trip for nothing if they were to run out before I reached the front of the counter.
It took about 20 minutes for it to be my turn to order my pastries. I spoke with an extremely friendly and helpful worker. Her name was Linda. She was so nice.
I wanted to try a little bit of everything, so I asked if the Zeppoles still available. She told me that whatever was left in the case is what they had left. Luckily I was able to try one chocolate and one custard strawberry.
I also was told that this place is known for their specialty pastry called their cheese sticks. They are a light flaky pastry in a stick form with a sweet cream filling and powdered sugar on top. I definitely had to try those.
I also heard that their donuts were very good, especially their chocolate, so I also purchased some donuts. I asked Linda if there waa anything else that she thought I should add to my order.
She told me that she thinks that they make the best cannolis and they were made fresh. I bought one regular cannoli and one chocolate.
With my order they were also giving away free loaves of bread for orders over $20. I thought that was a very nice gesture.
I immediately went home to try all of my Italian pastries. I did not want them to sit. I wanted to try them while they were as fresh as possible.
I first started with the Zeppole. The strawberries were extremely fresh. The pastry was light, not too oily or greasy. The filling was very tasty. The chocolate version was filled with a chocolate pudding. It also was very tasty but my favorite was the custard filling.
I even tried one of their famous cheese sticks. This was one of my favorite items that I purchased. They were light, flaky, and had a wonderful flavor with the sweet cream. I would definitely come back for these.
The cannoli was absolutely fantastic, fresh tasting, sweet, but not too sweet. The cannoli filling had a great creamy texture. It was not gritty. The chocolate one was also good, but I definitely prefer the original. I would again come back for their cannolis.
The only negative that I can give was for the chocolate donuts. My donut was extremely hard and slightly stale. It was not that good. I also tried another doughnut later in the evening, and it gave me a stomachache. I do not know if it was caused by the donuts due to the fact I had a sugar overload on all the other pastries.
I also would like to add I understand this is an old school tradition, but this place only accepts cash. I think in 2023 we definitely need to accept credit cards in all businesses.
House of Cakes was definitely good. If I lived in the area, I would definitely make this my go to for Italian bakery goods, but I could not see myself making a trip here just for their pastries. I will say I will definitely come back if I am in the area.
The question lies. Is this the best Zeppole that I have ever had? It was good, but I do not think it is the best.
I give a rating of 7 out of 10. I think everyone should go check them out. When you go there please try their cheese sticks and cannolis. They are very good.
Please give me any suggestions of any other places you would like me to try and review.
I also would like all my subscribers to please go and check out my New YouTube channel. Please subscribe! I’m trying to get it to 1000 subscribers. The name of my YouTube channel is Chicagofoodking.
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