Where can I find zeppole tomorrow in the Bay Area?

March 18, 2011 8:26 AM

Where can I find zeppole tomorrow in Oakland/San Francisco/Berkeley? (I don't have a car.)

Tomorrow is St. Joseph's Day. In honor of this, I would like to eat the traditional food of my people¹ on that day, the zeppole. But I don't know any Italian bakeries around where I live now!

I'm starting in North Oakland near a BART station. I don't have a car. I do have time to kill; in particular I'm willing to go to San Francisco for this if I have to.

For some reason I'm thinking there are multiple foods that go by this name. The picture in the Wikipedia article is a picture of what I want.

1. "My people" are Italian-Americans from South Philly, if you must know.

posted by madcaptenor to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

I'd call Genova Delicatessen in Temescal. Molinari's in North Beach also might have them.
posted by asterix at 8:53 AM on March 18, 2011

There's an "Italian-American" bakery (Dianda's) in the Mission near BART. Alas, I can't vouch for the quality or authenticity of their baked goods.
posted by needs more cowbell at 9:21 AM on March 18, 2011

(A yelp search for "zeppole" gives lots of other results as well, though.)
posted by needs more cowbell at 9:24 AM on March 18, 2011

I remember seeing them once or twice at Caffe Trieste on San Pablo in Berkeley. It may be worth a call.
posted by deadmessenger at 9:41 AM on March 18, 2011

A search for Italian bakeries turned up this place in Berkeley: PiQ. You could give them a call. It's about half a block from Downtown Berkeley BART. (and zeppole look really really yummy! I might have to try to find one myself!)
posted by JenMarie at 10:35 AM on March 18, 2011

Dopo on Piedmont seems to have Zeppole.
posted by Nerro at 11:43 AM on March 18, 2011

Just wanted to let you know PiQ in Berkeley definitely has zeppole. I stopped in for lunch (pizza is great) and they had a sign up for St. Joseph's day and a tray of zeppole. They were delicious! Thanks for this question; I never would have known about this place.
posted by JenMarie at 1:56 PM on March 19, 2011

Ended up going to Dianda's (I had other reasons to go to SF today, and they're right near BART.) I was kind of disappointed -- what they had wasn't exactly what I expected -- but to be honest to get exactly what I expect I probably have to go back to Philadelphia. Thanks for the recommendation, cowbell (can I call you that?). PiQ seems worth a look -- I've actually walked past them before and thought this, I think -- and I might give them a shot tomorrow if I actually leave the house. (But we have this rain.)
posted by madcaptenor at 9:52 PM on March 19, 2011

They weren't what you wanted, but were they decent? I find a lot of bakery stuff has this "cheap" taste that seems to be from low-quality shortening (not butter) and not enough egg, especially with some of the the Asian bakeries in the Mission.

And yes, you can call me cowbell!
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:50 PM on March 24, 2011

They were decent. Apparently zeppole come in two forms -- the ones that I grew up with (see Wikipedia picture) and the kind that are basically cream puffs. Dianda's had the latter kind. I had been warned of this by my parents at some point, but forgot until I got there -- in the rain, without an umbrella -- and at that point I wasn't going to go searching. But they seemed to generally get things right, and I may stop there again next time I'm in the Mission. (Which is, um, probably tomorrow.)

Here's an article about Dianda's; they were started by Italians decades ago and in the recent past were bought by longtime employees with Spanish-sounding names.
posted by madcaptenor at 6:56 PM on March 24, 2011