Some of us will never get to a pasticceria in Genoa or a caffe in Sicily, and this family opened up so we wouldn't have to. Dolce Italy is run by bakers whose roots run back to Genoa and Sicily, from a line of pastry chefs, and it shows in work made entirely from scratch with ingredients carried over from Italy alongside local ones.
The lineup runs sweet to savory: cannoli, cassata, and gelato, cookies like amaretti, anise, sesame, and cuccidati fig cookies, plus crusty Italian breads, focaccia, and savory Sicilian cooking. Order an espresso over a scoop of gelato and you have an affogato done right. Two dozen or more pastries come out fresh daily, so the case is rarely the same twice.
The road here covered some ground, from baking for restaurant kitchens around Los Angeles to a first shop in Rochester, New York, before opening here in 2022. Regulars, homesick Italians among them, keep saying one bite puts them right back home. Which pastry becomes your regular is something you settle one visit at a time.