Dio Mio San Giuseppe

[little big al]

I totally lost track of Feast Of St. Joseph and its' attendant zeppoli. Where are hounds picking them up this year? My former go-to Bao Necci (nee Danilo) isn't even open during the day anymore. What is a zeppophile to do?

[chocolatetartguy]

I thought that zeppole were unfilled fried doughnuts like beignet. Anyway that's what I remember having at the Festa di San Gennaro in Little Italy several times. They used to have those at stands during the North Beach Fair, which I believe is in September?

[abstractpoet]

Probably not traditional, but my favorite lemon ricotta zeppole are from the Go Streatery food truck. $3 for a pretty generous portion. http://gostreatery.com/

Dopo also makes an excellent version. But these are both in the East Bay (Go Streatery may stop elsewhere, but it's mostly in Oakland, Emeryville, etc.)

Are bambolini the same thing? Both of the versions I mentioned don't have a filling, though their interiors are slightly custardy from the ricotta.

[hyperbowler]

Bambolini derive from Tuscany, and the ones I've had in the bay area strikes me as a synonyn for an overpriced and small filled yeast doughnut. They're different from any zeppole I've ever had, certainly the ones sold in NY Italian American places. It's a difficult question though--- I always thought that all zeppole had a ricotta based dough, but Wikipedia describes them as a fairly heterogenous product.

[little big al]

So this year I went for Victoria Pastry's version. They call them Sfingi, but I think it's just a linguistic difference. They were available in custard and ricotta versions for about $4.50 each, but they were huge. I preferred the custard version, since the ricotta incorporated chocolate chips, which I consider an abomination.
Incidentally, bomboloni are quite different, and I agree with Hyperbowler's assessment that they are like an overpriced jelly doughnut, although there is a version available Saturdays at Ferry Plaza indoors which is very good, and at $2.50 almost the right price. They also make an interesting spin on cannoli, with a sort of yeasted fried tube filled with stuff. Since it's never crispy, you can't complain that it gets soggy sitting around, which is a problem with most Bay area cannoli.

[Robert Lauriston]

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