Anne C.
Yelp
Sfogliatelle. Early in the morning. Close your eyes, ignore the fog, the freeway, the industrial park, click your heels together and think of Rome. One bite of pastry and you are transported to the land of ciao bella, motos, the lumpy cobbles of the Via Appia.
I have personal rules about Yelp pastry reviews - I don't apply a global standard, but rather a local/regional standard - is this five stars for the region I'm in?
That said, the sfogliatelle from Gran Milan are as good as the ones I've had in Rome. They are excellent not just on a regional standard, but on a global one. They are so superlative that now, on my semi-regular travels to the Bay Area, I'm going to make return visits to Gran Milan (and I usually try to never revisit a restaurant or bakery.)
Note: purchased, first thing in the morning, so very fresh, earthshatteringly crisp and dusted with a light puff of powdered sugar, filled with a cinnamon-citrus-ricotta cream.
More: this is a small very Italian cafe buried in an industrial park. IIRC it has a few small tables (I got takeout, so did not enjoy a cappuccino with my pastry.) Parking is interesting but not bad, inside and waiting is nice. The woman at the counter (Annabelle?) was lovely and very helpful.
I also ordered a box of pastry which I did not get to eat (I gave it away. Now why did I do that?), a puff pastry with apple which was delicious the next day so must have been phenomenal the day of, and the olive breadsticks, which were also outstanding, salty, rich with a generous portion of well-flavored savory green olives, chewy and hearty, and also which ended up being breakfast two days in a row. I'd do that again in a heartbeat.
It was my first time at Gran Milan, but family has been coming here forever, and now I understand the reason why they're regulars. And... darn it, realized I didn't get a picture of the sfogliatelle. How could this review possibly be complete without it? I must visit Gran Milan again on my next trip to the Bay.