Pour Some Sugar on Me

Lobster Tail & Sfogliatella – Ferrara Bakery
Ferrara Bakery

Never being so happy to see Little Italy in our lives, we make it out of Chinatown to the plaza of Italian sidewalk seating.  At this point, we are ready to try anything Alex Guarnaschelli recommends based merely on the enticing language she uses to describe it, so we head to Ferrara Bakery to have Alex’s LAST SUPPER dishes: the lobster tail and sfogliatella.

If You Leave a Bakery Without a Shopping Bag, You're Doing Something Wrong

We have been to Ferrara Bakery before, and Ginger has even ordered the lobster tail.  In fact, it was so delectable that we figured anything ordered from Ferrara would be equally delicious.

This is not exactly the case.

Lobster Tail, Not from Maine

Unlike last time we were here, Ferrara Bakery’s line is now out of control.  And even worse, it is out of control with tourists, who are ordering in the slow methodical fashion that one would use when actually choosing one’s last supper.

Get it together, people.

Ferrara’s baked goods are placed in long, glass-enclosed cases which make you more and more hungry as you stand and wait.  Clever marketing, Ferrara.

We'll Take 5 of Everything

We eventually make it to the front of the line and order Alex’s two delicacies.  Asked if we want sugar on our sfogliatella, we say no.

For future reference, never, ever say no to sugar.

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

Wrongly assuming that if the dessert does not come with powdered sugar already sprinkled on it (as the lobster tail does), that sugar is unnecessary, we immediately discover the flaw in this thinking when we bite into the sfogliatella.

It needs sugar.  WHOA does it need sugar.

In the sfogliatella’s defense, it is not what we were expecting, meaning it is hardly sweet.  Fanned scales of dough cover a lemony filling with the texture of ricotta cheese (hardly knowing how to cook, we can barely identify ingredients, so forgive us).  It is beautiful to look at but less gorgeous in taste -- it doesn’t really taste like much, and the scales are disarmingly crunchy.

In essence, it needs some sugar.

MIA Sugar

In contrast, the lobster tail is to die for.  With the same scaly dough as the sfogliatella, it is somehow much softer and easier to consume.  And the filling – the filling is a creamy custard that goops out of the tail in a slow spread of goodness.  It is tastier than the finest lobster tails in Maine.

Just remember: never say no to sugar.

Ferrara Bakery’s Lobster Tail: 4 stars

Ferrara Bakery’s Sfogliatella: 2 stars