When I lived in Astoria, Queens, I always looked forward to the arrival of St. Joseph’s Day pastries in local bakeries in March. Whether it was a zeppole or a sfingi, I was ready for them. Here in Portland, there are a couple of places you can get them this time of year, and I want you to know about them.
First, What’s the Big Deal About St. Joseph?
St. Joseph’s Day as I know it is influenced by the Sicilian and southern Italian immigrant community that lived in Astoria. Joseph—known broadly as the husband of the Virgin Mary—is also the Patron Saint of Sicily and the story goes that in the Middle Ages he saved the island from a number of droughts. The Italian Sons & Daughters of America add this:
“Tradition has it that residents prayed to St. Joseph for rain. The rain came, and as such, their spring crops were spared from being destroyed, preventing a widespread famine for Sicily. It is widely believed that this is the reason the celebration is held in March.” St. Joseph’s Day is March 19.
St. Joseph’s Day Pastries: Zeppole in Portland
Here in Portland you’ll pretty much find the zeppole, which is one of two St. Joseph’s Day pastries I’ve encountered for this celebration. The other is the sfingi. Artuso Pastry Shop in the Bronx breaks out the differences:
- Zeppole is filled and topped with vanilla custard cream and Amarena cherries.
- Sfingi is filled and topped with cannoli cream and adorned with candied citrus fruit, a glazed cherry, and sprinkles.
I believe the zeppole tends to be baked (do not confuse them with the fried zeppole found during Italian Carnevale celebrations) and the sfingi is fried. The zeppole tends to look a little more uniform, whereas the sfingi is lumpier and oddly-shaped (but no less delicious). Also, the fillings are usually different.
Here is where you can get the zeppole (St. Joseph’s Day pastry) in Portland.
Sebastiano’s
Sebastiano’s in Sellwood makes their zeppole with pate choux, fills them with St. Joseph’s Day filling (a combination of pastry cream and whipped cream), sprinkles them with powdered sugar, and adds an Amarena cherry to the top.
They make about 20 a day through March 19. You can order four-packs of zeppole for pickup on Tuesday, March 18 and Wednesday, March 19 on their Tock page.
8235 SE 13th Avenue, # 7, Portland. Sebastiano’s website
Bella’s Italian Bakery
Bella’s Italian Bakery in Lents is doing their zeppole a little differently, taking a page out of the sfingi’s book and filling their zeppole with ricotta cream. It’s dusted with powdered sugar, then topped with an Amarena cherry and candied lemon. They will have them daily through Sunday, March 23.
You can buy them at the shop or special order them on the bakery’s ToastTab page.
9119 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland. Bella’s Italian Bakery website
Campana
Good news, we have a third option for St. Joseph’s Day pastries! Over at Campana in the Woodlawn neighborhood, this celebrated Italian restaurant has decided to make zeppole this week (I’m told they worked on zeppole all last week to get them just right) for the holiday. Head over there this Wednesday, March 19. I bet they are gonna be fab.
901 NE Oneonta Street, Portland. Campana website
Updated March 17, 2025.
Meg Cotner
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I know the Chicagoland diaspora has a difficult time with paczki here (bless you, Doe Donuts and the Fred Meyer boxed-paczki underground), but I’ve found St. Joseph’s pastry to be one of the singularly most difficult seasonal pastries to track down here.
Sebastiano’s was a welcome surprise when they offered them for the first time in Montavilla, but their filling is an acquired taste (not custard, not the sfingi cannoli-style mascarpone). I haven’t tried Bella’s, but lemon ricotta was definitely a Jersey variant.
Last year, I’ll admit I flew some back from Nutley in containers. I happened to be back at the time, and it was hard to lay off. Also, less of a delicacy in North Jersey, so there’s the cultural discount as well.
Paczki are off my radar, but I probably would have felt more of a connection to this lovely pastry if I had lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I’m putting it on my list for next year’s researching. Interesting that ricotta filling was a zeppole variant in NJ. I am really a sfingi gal, as I love the oddly shaped fried pastry filled with that wonderful ricotta cream. But overall, I’m happy to find St. Joseph’s Day pastries here in Portland. I hope to see a couple more spots make them next year (thinking at least Montelupo – I’ve also asked Camapana if they are making them this year and they said they’d think about it).