Can you recommend any good Bakeries in the Triangle

[claudia008]

We are originally from NJ/NY area and enjoyed many Italian style cakes and pastries back home. Since we moved here, we have been searching for a bakery in the Raleigh or Cary area. Any recommendations would help.

PS. Please recommend any good authentic Italian restaurants in the Triangle as well. Where can we find decent authentic Italian around here?

[fara]

Not a bakery, but I drove an hour to Giacomo's in Greensboro today. That's what happens when you haven't had mortadell after being down here for 6 months. So I also bought:
chinotto (the brown bitter organge pellegrino)
frozen in-house made cavatelli
fresh fettucine, albeit "garlic and parsely" but they cut it to order. probably have the regular egg during the week.
in-house dried sweet sausage (thinner than sorpressata - don't know the name)
1 ball fresh mozzarella (not the best)
amaretti, not even the expensive kind and they are good.

so, you better get used to not having an italian grocery close by. i haven't been to conti's but i asked around and giacomo's was supposed to be better. eitehr way it's a hike.
i can't even believe the whole foods here doesn't have imported prosciutto, but what you gonna do?
as far as i can tell, and I haven't risked it yet, but the pizza is a pretty good indication that there is no italian restaurant to speak of. if you find one let us know. (former new yorker myself - never thought there were areas of the country where italians were a rarity - i thought we were basically everywhere!)

[rossgrady]

I've met plenty of [NY] Italians down here -- but they all seem to spend their time kvetching about the lack of decent food, rather than opening restaurants ;-) Of course, most of them work for IBM, so it's probably just as well they don't cook . . .

The one NY Italian chef I know in town, Don Mazzia, runs the Park Diner, but there's nothing particularly "Italian" about the cuisine. It's good, though. He keeps threatening to close it & open a real Italian restaurant; I'll try to let him know there's a demand (though I wouldn't want to see the PD close).

[AreBe]

not Italian, but good cake in downtown Cary at Once in a Blue Moon. bought two slices of Far out Frangelico yesterday. I highly recommend their cakes

NC State alums may try to send you to Amedeo's restaurant near the campus - don't go.

[VaNC]

Does Conti's in Mordecai still do cannoli? I know that is where I have gotten great frozen pasta, shipped in from NY, in the past.

[Sarah Jane]

There is an article on triangle bakeries in the indy this week:

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Cont...

[rockycat]

This is one of the major gaps that remain in this region, in my opinion. There's really nothing close to Italian baked goods available and while you may find okay Italian food, depending on your personal taste, it won't resemble any of the neighborhood Italian trattorias in the outer boroughs.

I've become very adept a baking my own biscotti, reginas, amaretti, cannoli, and even panetone, but sfogliatelle are way beyond me, unfortunately. Let's not even discuss bread. I'm afraid most bakeries in this area wouldn't know genuine Italian bread if it whacked 'em in the head (and if it were real Italian bread, boy would that hurt!). I still have a pane di casa from the Bronx in my freezer.

Could some talented culinary entrepreneur please rectify this situation?

[VaNC]

The best place I know in Raleigh for cakes and pastries is Hereghty's in Glenwood Village S.C., but it is french. But really really good. They do not really do just bread, though, only cakes and tarts and pastries.

[HeelsSoxHound]

as far as bakeries, there's not an italian one that i know of-- but there is guglhupf in durham. well worth the drive from raleigh. very european style, esp. german and french style pastries. truly killer stuff. as far as straight bread goes, weaver st. in carrboro has the best around. not even close.

[durhamois]

Guglhupf is certainly one of the top bakeries around. Just one word of warning: if you want something specific, like a baguette, call first and make sure they have it available. There have been many, many times that I have gone to Guglhupf and they have been sold out of almost everything. This can happen several hours before they actually close. So the bottom line is, go there as early in the day as you can, and/or call ahead.

[suse]

In defense of Guglhupf on the running-out-early factor. It operates more like a true European bakery, which means that toward the end of the day there just isn't going to be that much to choose from. Everything is always baked fresh that day. You're not going to find pasteries or breads from the day before unless they're in the mark-down bin. A lot of people come from Raleigh and even farther afield and stock their freezers without ordering ahead. Can't be helped, I suppose.
I'm not as big a fan of their pastries as some, but I have to say- if you like Stollen, give theirs a try. Tis the season.
Oh, it's you - Durhamois - hi!