Enrico Biscotti Co.

If you like Italian cookies, scones, or coconut macaroons, or strawberry balsamic vinegar tortes, or chewy focaccias still warm from the oven, or artisan pizzas topped with sausage from the local Parma sausage company, you will love Enrico Biscotti Company. This storefront bakery, which Larry Lagattuta opened in 1995 as “stress relief” from his corporate job, has become a foodies’ Mecca in the food-focused Pittsburgh neighborhood known as The Strip.

Through the bakery’s screen doors wafts a come-hither smell of plum-filled crumb cake or cornmeal biscotti getting cut for its second bake. Step inside and confront an array of jars that contain a few dozen different kinds of extra-large, hand-cut biscotti, including classic anise-almond and black pepper walnut as well as white chocolate with macadamia nuts. If ever you walk in and Larry’s macaroons are still warm from the oven, buy some and eat them instantly! Macaroons are a regular part of the repertoire, sometimes dipped in chocolate; but they are not always available. When warm, they are food of the gods.

Behind the bakery, via a short sidewalk, there is a second part of Enrico Biscotti, a European-style café where Larry makes individual-size pizzas in his brick oven and great Italian meals. Here too is the espresso machine, as well as a handful of tables both inside and outdoors in a sort of makeshift patio along the sidewalk. We know of no nicer place to start the day with strong coffee and biscotti, or to have a leisurely lunch of expertly-made true-Italian food.