Day 136

Sfogliatelle: Tonight's new food entry comes courtesy of one of my favorite restaurants, Antico Pizza in Atlanta (www.anticopizza.it). I'm addicted to their pizza - it's by far the best I've had, anywhere. I've eaten there several times, but I'm usually never able to make it to dessert after devouring large amounts of pizza. However, tonight I spied something in the dessert case up front that I'd never had: sfogliatelle. At first glance, it looked like some sort of pastry, but past that I knew nothing about it. After me and the GF finished our pizza, I decided to buy one on the way out to take home.

I unwrapped the pastry when I got home, and it looked like a giant seashell made out of layers of flaky dough. It definitely had some weight to it when I picked it up, and when I broke it apart, I saw that it contained a ricotta-like filling. I love ricotta cheese, so I hoped whatever the filling was tasted like it. I took a bite, and was really impressed - the outer pastry was super-flaky and crunchy, and the interior tasted like sweetened ricotta. Almost like a croissant texture, but much more crunchy and buttery. I also noticed some pieces in the filling that appeared to be candied fruit, but I'm not sure what kind. Definitely one of the better pastries I've had in awhile, and I highly recommend trying if you make it to Antico.

FYI, according to Wikipedia, some sfogliatelle contain candied pieces of citron, so maybe that's what this one had. If anyone knows for sure, please feel free to comment!