Villabate Pasticceria & Bakery

If you hate the dry, flavorless cookies that so many Italian-American bakeries churn out by the pound, you are not alone. If you find the average cannoli a gloppy mess hardly worth fattening a thigh, my sisters, we hear you. Brothers, we do not dispute your charge that colorful cakes shaped like Spongebob or Barbie most often taste like cardboard coated in refined sugar. You will find none of that at Villabate. We promise. And we better be serious, because Iwe take a subway and a bus to get there.

At Villabate, you want to get the round buns usually kept atop the main counter. They are called inis, which rhymes with "penis." Don't be embarrassed; the girls behind the counter are cool. You can get this Sicilian specialty item baked or fried. You want fried, obviously. It is basically a ball of sweet dough, filled with cream, and dusted with sugar. Villabate's inis is ridiculously good: think of thick, buttery custard met by a layer of light cake with a slightly crispy skin. So good, in fact, that they'd run out the day these pictures were taken. You will have to either get there early or call ahead to guarantee the tastiest dessert this side of Palermo lands on your plate.

If you can't get the inis, don't despair. You won't be disappointed by anything that involves the same custard cream filling. They always have cannoli and at least one or two donut-type items on hand, so just ask and ye shall find. And find. And find.

The cookies are pretty good, too, just fresher, less intensely sweet versions of the ones you see in windows all around town. We like the lemon drops and the chocolate-dipped varieties the best.

Villabate Pasticceria & Bakery, 7117 18th Avenue, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn