Bomboloni by the Bay: A Finale with Nutella

This past weekend I completed my quadfecta of bomboloni consumption when I finally tasted the last of the four flavors of this wonderful cream-filled Italian treat: Nutella.

If you haven’t read any of my past raves about the bomboloni here or here, then the lesson is please keep checking my blog regularly. ;-) But really, for those who are just discovering my love of the bomboloni (and yes, it is true love), these plump and perfectly round doughnuts are made fresh with organic ingredients every day and then sold at Boriana’s Corner—a quaint Italian specialty shop in the south end of the San Francisco Ferry Plaza building.

Only four flavors are available: custard and raspberry ($2.50 each) and cioccolatto (chocolate) and Nutella ($2.75 each). I started with custard (always a favorite) and loved the creamy and slightly chilled egg-goodness at the heart of the sugar-coated bomboloni. The raspberry was less than successful, and reminded me of any jelly-filled doughnut at Dunkin’ Donuts. The chocolate was too rich and the filling not as creamy as the custard.

So when I was at the Ferry Plaza on Saturday, I had little expectations for the final untested flavor, Nutella. To me, custard was the clear favorite.

Oh. My. Gawd. Must. Go. Nutty. For Nutella.

The Nutella was surprisingly creamy, almost gooey. It really could squirt out of the bomboloni as you bite into it. And how good is that? Each squirt gives the back of your mouth that instant pleasure of sweet cream and chocolate-richness that is Nutella, the European’s alternative to peanut butter.

It was such a treat to enjoy the Nutella bomboloni, especially from my seat on the wooden benches with a view of the Bay Bridge on a sunny (albeit chilly) fall day. BTW, I still bought a custard and I am still amazed at how the custard bomboloni always seems to have more filling than all the other flavors (it’s like they’re giving away the custard, people!) and it always has that nice, slight chill to it.

Having to decide whether I prefer the custard over the Nutella bomboloni is like how people always seem to want me to choose between San Francisco and New York. You just can’t. They’re both distinctive in their own ways, and they’re both loved for different reasons. Hmmm, if I could eat a bomboloni from San Francisco sitting in Central Park just behind the Metropolitan. Now that’s an affair to remember.