It’s just about a week now until St. Joseph’s Day—March 19—and that means the arrival of delicious zeppole in Portland. Eating this pastry, along with the sfinge that is hard to find here, is one of my favorite memories from living in Queens, and I’m always happy to tell you about where to get them in our fair city each year.
Here’s where you can find zeppole in Portland this year.
Bella’s Italian Bakery
A reliable source of St. Joseph’s Day pastries each year is Bella’s in Lents. They make a traditionally-shaped St. Joesph’s Day zeppole with its swirled top, and fill the pastry with ricotta cream. It’s topped with more cream, candied citrus strips, and an Amarena cherry. I love how ethereal it looks in the photo above.
They’ll start offering them today, Wednesday, March 11 through Sunday, March 22. Buy them when you’re there or pre-order them—the best way I can find to do that is to use their contact form for requests. You can call them at 971-255-1212, too, and they strongly recommend you place a special order if you need a bunch.
They added, “These are one of our favorite treats of the year and so fun to make, even better to eat.”
9119 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland. Bella’s Italian Bakery website
Sebastiano’s
Zeppole have been on the menu since Tuesday, March 3 at Sebastiano’s in Sellwood. They’ll have them available until Thursday, March 19 at the shop, and you can special order them for pick-up on Wednesday and Thursday, March 18 and 19. I asked Dan to share any interesting details about their zeppole:
“Our pastries are unique in that our filling combines ricotta with pastry cream and whipped cream—keeping things in the spirit of the Italian south!” he wrote. “Historically, these pastries were fried, but in most U.S. bakeries, they are known as baked zeppole. In Italy, you will find variations of them fried and baked.”
8235 SE 13th Avenue, # 7, Portland. Sebastiano’s website
No Saint
They’ve had Zeppole di San Giuseppe on their menu since before the fest season. Theirs is a cream puff filled with diplomat cream (pastry cream + whipped cream), and topped with an Amarena cherry.
1603 NE Killingsworth Street, Portland. No Saint website
Last year, Campana also had them, but only on March 19. Hopefully they will do it again. I’ll update this roundup if/when I hear back from them.
Meg Cotner
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Look at No Saint getting into it! $5 is eminently fair, especially in this market. I just did $4 a pop for large zeppoles in Nutley, N.J., for my sister’s birthday, so if diplomat cream is what it takes to hit the mark, so be it.
Nicely done, No Saint.
I was actually curious to see what the pricing was for La Guli and Rose & Joe’s but I was unable to track down that info online. I’d have to ask friends who still live there. I really miss being able to get the sfinge so easily. Like with the plethora of Greek food, markets, cafe, bakeries – I didn’t know what I had until I lost it. That said, I never want to live east of the Rockies again. I love rainy Portland and life in the PNW. Glad I had a life in NYC but I’m happy here in Portland. Guess I’ll have to fly to NYC to satisfy my sfinge craving!
I do not miss humid summers and the accompanying scent of, oh, just about everything. But I’ll occasionally find myself craving something like a pepperoni roll, a pizza shop beef patty, a quick empanada, or the full range of Italian cookies and I’ll know it’s time for a trip back.
Sfinge is one of those items that inspires me to build whole trips around it. Two years ago, I made it to early Easter dinner with the family, got tickets to Days of Wine and Roses, ended up in a Playwrights during the St. Patrick’s Day parade, and took home Sfinge in airtight cases. No need to force local bakers out of the comfort zone for items I can get every couple of years from places where they’re a staple.
I loved the pepperoni rolls at Alba’s on Ditmars/37th. And dang, I just looked and they are still there in the same location! Awesome. My husband loved the Jamaican beef patties; I miss the really good doubles I’d get in Richmond Hill. Kossar’s bialys will never be topped, IMO. The Greek salad with charcoal chicken at Zorba’s is simple but amazing. I too, would bring back sfinge if I could. We both share a love of the late, great Top Tomato, which brings me back to simpler times.