De Robertis isn’t exactly known for being on the cutting edge (it’s one of the few places that pretty much hasn’t changed a lick since New York surveyed the East Village shopping 30 years ago) but it may just have the next cronut on its sticky little hands.
Just a block from where Chikalicious is serving “doughssants” (and now these “micro stack” pancakes) the century-old pasticceria has introduced the “dannoli,” a homemade chocolate-frosted donut filled with cannoli cream. If you’ve found that regular old chocolate-covered cannolis just aren’t enough of a lead weight in your stomach, then these gut grenades are for you. Moreover, if you’re stuck on the sidewalk waiting for a table at Momofuku Noodle Bar and it kills you that you aren’t stuffing some sort of Instagrammable concoction down your gullet, this thing is right across the street.
To be fair, De Robertis isn’t the first to debut a dannoli. A South Philly bakery hit pay dirt when it started doing a “donnoli” a few months ago. But can you eat that one while sitting at a sidewalk table, watching the weirdos walk down First Avenue?