Dessert for Me, Dessert for Randy
August 18th, 2006 | by Loretta |Call me crazy, but I always wanted to get my brother cream puffs from Beard Papa. (Cream puffs are his faaaavorite at Veniero’s.) And after having lunch, we had room for more and decided that room must be for dessert.
After strolling through the courts one more time, I talked him into having a Beard Papa cream puff.
He asked if I wanted one and I thought I might want one with Belgian chocolate filling, but decided not to. I wasn’t in the mood to have a rich custard pudding inside a golden pastry shell made with Japanese flour.
So, he patiently helped me decide what to get. Fudge? We’ve never had store-bought or homemade fudge before. But fudge would have been too much for me to handle. I wanted something rich, but not over the top.
Finally, we made our 4th trip past Carol’s Bake Shop, except I finally actually got something this time. The previous three times, we just walked by and I stared wide-eyed at the huge portions of turnovers, muffins and macaroons.
I got a cannoli. And I didn’t think I could at first, because how could I eat one outside of NYC? How!? 
For the record, this is really un cannolo. Cannoli means more than one.
But I did and it was delicious. It was very rich with ricotta and light on the powdered sugar. I loved that. The cheese filling tasted great. I let dad and my brother each take a bite to get their opinion. Dad put it best: it’s like cheesecake. At first my brother and I were distressed. We both thought: Oh no! A pre-filled cannoli!
It was fine though. The pastry was still crispy, much to my relief. 
And it was worth every calorie.
I love getting food with my brother. So much fun. My brother thought the cream puff was okay; the cream was more of a pudding consistency that tasted like a light custard. This was different from the thick French pastry cream that I usually make at home to go with cream puffs.
Mom didn’t care for this after having one bite and said she’d rather be eating my yolk-laden concoctions of cream puffs rather than these. In retrospect, I was disappointed by the fact that I didn’t see any vanilla beans in the custard.
Beard Papa has several locations in the US now, especially in NYC. The one I’ve been to is on Broadway and 8th Street.