Best Bakery in Connecticut Ever

[karstenkibbe]

Kibbe,

You think Beldotti is better than De Mare?

There was (until about 35-40 years ago) a very good German bakery on Cove Road (Kralich's) but sadly they are also gone.

I’m 53. I remember Kralich’s well. Fantastic. Also Karp’s Jewish bakery on Washington Blvd, next to the beautiful old church, just before UConn-Stamford campus. Cerbone’s (the predecessor to Beldotti in Newfield Green). Mario Cerbone was French-Italian and the breadth of his pastry skills was off the charts.

To answer your question… for custom cakes, DiMare every time. For the variety, DiMare also. BUT, if I want on-the-spot, hand-filled cannoli or Sfogliatella and Zeppole, I prefer Beldotti. Also, no bakery matches Beldotti for breads - Italian, French and Jewish. Their Friday/Saturday-only corn rye is not of this world. At the end of the day, I think it’s simply personal preference and can’t go wrong with either.

 

[karstenkibbe]

I’m not a baked goods guy, but I respect the care of Flour, Water, Salt in Darien.

That dude is a master. We lived on his Thursday night sourdough crust pizzas during the height of Covid. Expensive but amazing.

 

[August_West]

came here to post this, haha.

i love fancy french stuff too, but i feel like the italian cookies at lucibellos are somewhere in my dna.

Post/Handle

 

[karstenkibbe]

This is the way. My Brother in law is obsessed with finding the best, and we've sampled from everywhere. I bought him one in NYC when at BET and it was OK, but he is on the grail hunt.... last week I stopped at Libbys in New Haven just to bring him some B+W's (all my other Italian pastries were Lucibellos. which I was at just before it) They were nice looking cookies, but they just didn't ring his bell.

Then I realized he is just never going to like the Italian version no matter how good the bakery. I've eliminated Italian bakeries as a source now, it has to be Jewish. Im sure of it.

Love your rec. Hard to find good Jewish bakeries outside of the City. Im going . Thank you.

Go early morning on a Friday or Saturday just so you can snag a loaf of corn rye, which they only bake on those days, and grab some fresh donuts - they have about 15-20 varieties daily. Black-and-whites in the middle case. Traditional Jewish cookies in the case as soon as you walk in, Italian pastries in the far case.

 

[elmcityboy]

Take a drive down to Stamford, my friend. Beldotti Bakery is your answer. Might be the only stand-alone, full-service kosher bakery left in CT, with a full array of Italian and Jewish baked goods. Grab a poppy or sesame challah while you’re there.

have you been to ricotta in new haven yet? it's a new-ish kosher bakery and pizza place downtown on chapel st. not sure about the pizza (i am not kosher and there is obviously plenty of other pizza to eat in new haven) but the bakery is really good.

my girlfriend's family is from the balkans and she introduced me to burek. i had the israeli version (bureka) here for the first time. crazy good.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Average at best

Qualifier on this comment:

Average for a family run Italian bakery in Stamford will exceed 98% of what you can find in most places.

 

[August_West]

have you been to ricotta in new haven yet? it's a new-ish kosher bakery and pizza place downtown on chapel st. not sure about the pizza (i am not kosher and there is obviously plenty of other pizza to eat in new haven) but the bakery is really good.

my girlfriend's family is from the balkans and she introduced me to burek. i had the israeli version (bureka) here for the first time. crazy good.

kinda weird that a kosher bakery calls it self ricotta, but I will check it out.

 

[huskymedic]

Lucibellos.

I’m old school

^ Throw Rocco’s on Ferry Street in New Haven into the mix as well.

 

[UofCT]

Average at best

What did you have there that was average?

 

[karstenkibbe]

have you been to ricotta in new haven yet? it's a new-ish kosher bakery and pizza place downtown on chapel st. not sure about the pizza (i am not kosher and there is obviously plenty of other pizza to eat in new haven) but the bakery is really good.

my girlfriend's family is from the balkans and she introduced me to burek. i had the israeli version (bureka) here for the first time. crazy good.

They deliver to Stamford 2x/week to a central pickup point (as do many kosher restaurants in the NYC area). I eat non-kosher pizza, and a kosher-keeping home baker friend here has a custom Forza outdoor oven that gets up to 1600 degrees, so my expectations are high on the pizza front. I sampled a Ricotta pie (it had been in a box traveling down 95) and did not care for it. But I did stop at their Chapel St location (actually after a visit to Modern!) a few months ago. Agree with you that the burekas are amazing. My son and I crushed Israeli, Turkish and Georgian varieties. Also, great Shakshuka. Got some rugalach to go. Quite solid, but I’ve had better.

 

[cullaville]

Kibbe,

You think Beldotti is better than De Mare?

There was (until about 35-40 years ago) a very good German bakery on Cove Road (Kralich's) but sadly they are also gone.

Since the thread said ever, not current I was going to mention Kralich's in Stamford but you beat me to it.

 

[karstenkibbe]

kinda weird that a kosher bakery calls it self ricotta, but I will check it out.

Don’t get me started on kosher eatery naming strategies these days. As kosher cuisine has branched out from more traditional Eastern European and deli options over the last few decades, many try way too hard in an attempt to sound hip, ethnic or fancy. The names end up being unoriginal and boring.

 

[jibsey]

I think I can work with this!

 

[upstater]

Forget the name in New Haven. I lived in Waterbury. Every holiday my mom sent me to New Haven to pick up pastries for Easter and other holidays They only made these pastries on holidays. This was back in the late 60's early 70's. Honestly worth the drive. The bakery wasn't in the center of New Haven. You went through to the city a short distance.

Also, Helen's in Waterbury was a good vibe.

Probably Lucibello's already mentioned above

 

[karstenkibbe]

I think I can work with this!

Yes!!!! I’ve had that one. Insanely delicious. They don’t make it often. You will skip lunch after eating it.

 

[storrsroars]

I have never understood why anyone likes black & white cookies. Especially now when so many bakeries can pull off reasonable facsimiles of a Levain chocolate chip monster.

 

[upstater]

I've been to a bunch of donut places all over the USA, and so many people rave about the best donuts, but I've had nothing nearly as good as Coffee An' in Westport.

So airy and fluffy and warm inside, and this incredible thin crust on every donut. Don't know how they do it.

Yes, I've been to Neil's in Wallingford.

 

[jibsey]

I have never understood why anyone likes black & white cookies. Especially now when so many bakeries can pull off reasonable facsimiles of a Levain chocolate chip monster.

You probably never had a great one. They must be very fresh, baked that day with lots of icing. Even 1 day later ruins it and most out there are several days and weeks old in wrapping.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

I’m 53. I remember Kralich’s well. Fantastic. Also Karp’s Jewish bakery on Washington Blvd, next to the beautiful old church, just before UConn-Stamford campus. Cerbone’s (the predecessor to Beldotti in Newfield Green). Mario Cerbone was French-Italian and the breadth of his pastry skills was off the charts.

To answer your question… for custom cakes, DiMare every time. For the variety, DiMare also. BUT, if I want on-the-spot, hand-filled cannoli or Sfogliatella and Zeppole, I prefer Beldotti. Also, no bakery matches Beldotti for breads - Italian, French and Jewish. Their Friday/Saturday-only corn rye is not of this world. At the end of the day, I think it’s simply personal preference and can’t go wrong with either.

Totally forgot that DiMare did our wedding cake: chocolate with cannoli cream filling…I’m not a sweets guy but their cannoli cream is out of this world.

 

[huskyjawz]

Don’t get me started on kosher eatery naming strategies these days. As kosher cuisine has branched out from more traditional Eastern European and deli options over the last few decades, many try way too hard in an attempt to sound hip, ethnic or fancy. The names end up being unoriginal and boring.

Also Jewish or Kosher style.

 

[August_West]

I have never understood why anyone likes black & white cookies. Especially now when so many bakeries can pull off reasonable facsimiles of a Levain chocolate chip monster.

They arent in my wheelhouse either. They are OK. I prefer Rugelach. By my BIL loves them.

 

[August_West]

Don’t get me started on kosher eatery naming strategies these days. As kosher cuisine has branched out from more traditional Eastern European and deli options over the last few decades, many try way too hard in an attempt to sound hip, ethnic or fancy. The names end up being unoriginal and boring.

When I ran a Deli in NYC I just dealt with Ira Pechter of Pechter-Fields Bakery in Brooklyn for my 3 lb Rye loaves.

Enough said.

Ira Pechter runs your bakery, the name is good enough. LOL "Ricotta" oy gevalt

 

[Deepelm]

Colchester Bakery

 

[storrsroars]

You probably never had a great one. They must be very fresh, baked that day with lots of icing. Even 1 day later ruins it and most out there are several days and weeks old in wrapping.

I've had fresh ones when I used to work in Pelham Manor, just over the Bronx border (which now has me thinking of red & white pizza). Probably had fresh in CT too. It's not a category of baked good I'd say can even aspire to "great".

 

[FfldCntyFan]

What did you have there that was average?

For openers please read my qualifier (post #36 in this thread).

A out three and a half decades ago Mike Beldotti tried to recruit a few of us (myself included) for his softball team. They wee DeLite bakery at tg he time, same Newfield location. As a goodwill gesture (and as it coincided with Sal's moving g to Bulls Head) I started getting pastries from them (DeLite, now Beldottis) somewhat regularly (basic Italian stuff; sfogliatelle, cannoli, napoleons, etc). My (Medigan) in-laws thought it was great. My Italian relatives (and I) felt it was nothing special.

The best analogy would be if you're Rutgers, a winning basketball season win a one and done postseason is pretty special. At UConn it isn't anything to be thrilled with.

 

[superjohn]

The BakeHouse in Litchfield. I don't do pastries, cakes, cookies, cupcakes etc. so can't vouch for it but his bread is great. The French bread is probably the best I've ever had.

 

[elmcityboy]

Don’t get me started on kosher eatery naming strategies these days. As kosher cuisine has branched out from more traditional Eastern European and deli options over the last few decades, many try way too hard in an attempt to sound hip, ethnic or fancy. The names end up being unoriginal and boring.

yeah, ricotta is one of three newer kosher restaurants here and may actually have the best name of the three haha. the other ones, "fin and scale" and "ladle and loaf", use a _____ and _____ naming convention that is extremely played out imo.

 

[karstenkibbe]

For openers please read my qualifier (post #36 in this thread).

A out three and a half decades ago Mike Beldotti tried to recruit a few of us (myself included) for his softball team. They wee DeLite bakery at tg he time, same Newfield location. As a goodwill gesture (and as it coincided with Sal's moving g to Bulls Head) I started getting pastries from them (DeLite, now Beldottis) somewhat regularly (basic Italian stuff; sfogliatelle, cannoli, napoleons, etc). My (Medigan) in-laws thought it was great. My Italian relatives (and I) felt it was nothing special.

The best analogy would be if you're Rutgers, a winning basketball season win a one and done postseason is pretty special. At UConn it isn't anything to be thrilled with.

Not going to fault you for your personal take. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. One thing though… Delite was on High Ridge, across from the Chase bank. When Beldotti bought the Newfield location in 1990, it was Cerbone’s and the Beldottis changed the name to Beldotti Bakery.

 

[karstenkibbe]

yeah, ricotta is one of three newer kosher restaurants here and may actually have the best name of the three haha. the other ones, "fin and scale" and "ladle and loaf", use a _____ and _____ naming convention that is extremely played out imo.

If you like middle eastern food, I recommend Ladle and Loaf. I turned 8893 on to that place and he enjoyed it. Also, you won’t be able to get eel or real crab at Fin & Scale, but their sushi is legit great.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Lombardi's in Torrington is very good.