Mattarello Bakery & Café
Published March 14, 2021
My sister and her husband picked me up for a surprise adventure on a rainy Saturday morning. Before the pandemic, we’d try new restaurants like the Stage House Tavern in Somerset and explore local businesses. I was excited that we could explore a new location while socially distancing.
Bundled in my raincoat, we drove a few towns over to Montclair — where I found a new bakery on Instagram named Mattarello Bakery & Café.
Mattarello Bakery & Café Exterior
I didn’t realize that Mattarello bakery sat on the corner with large windows looking out onto Bellevue Ave. A side street lead behind the building to Parking Lot 2 and other small businesses, which made this a perfect location to visit.
Mattarello Bakery & Café Interior
The space was bright, modern, and minimalist, which I love. The left-hand wall had built-in shelves and cabinets which displayed bags of pasta and jars of sauce for sale.
The L-shaped counter ran the length of the room, drawing you into the space — down past the booths and tables — to the large pastry cases.
An older man sat at the two-top table nearest the pastry case and watched us browse. Only one man — who reminded me of Gilles Marini — worked behind the bakery counter.
We knew we needed coffee to start our day, so we ordered two hot chocolates and a macchiato. As the drinks were made, we browsed all of the pastry cases.
Mattarello Bakery Menu
I didn’t bother to read the slideshow menu digitally displayed behind the counter, I went right to the pastry case and browsed the colorful treats.
Rows of symmetrical pastries and stacks of cookies filled the cases. I recognized some familiar pastries — cannoli, croissant, Pignoli cookies, and more.
My sister recommended that we select a variety to try. Mattarello has several box sizes labeled from 1-4, to hold your desserts. We selected the largest bottom box, and picked our treats.
The colorful mini cakes reminded me of the tea cakes from Minado’s Seafood Buffet — with their raspberry, chocolate, and lemon flavors. I selected the hazelnut and my sister picked the raspberry.
What I appreciate most is that the man — I’m sorry I didn’t get his name! I wonder if he’s the owner? — didn’t rush us. We asked questions about nearly every flavor and item in the case, and he explained the ingredients for each pastry.
By the time we filled our box, another two women had joined us at the case. The old man with the coffee had a new companion who also sat huddled in his hat and jacket, holding a coffee.
We paid for our pastries and sat at the large picnic table in the front window to sample our treats.
Black Cherry Pasticciotto | $3.75
If you can believe it, I’ve never had a pasticciotto before. For those of you who haven’t tried one either, they’re ricotta or custard filled pastries that are around 1 inch thick. The traditional pasticciotto shape is oval, but if you’re making your own at home and don’t have the mold, you can use a muffin tin.
The pasticciotto’s texture reminded me of a cross between a butter cookie and the top of a pie. It was buttery, flaky, with a tender filling.
The pastry itself was heavy, so I knew it was filled with a generous amount of custard — which tasted subtly of lemon.
I was surprised, that since this was a black cherry pasticciotto, that the filling didn’t have more cherries or cherry flavor. I had one large black cherry in the pastry and it was to die for. I definitely would enjoy more.
My sister and I would give this pastry a 9 of 10 for the fact that we wanted more cherries. But everything else about the pastry was perfect. I also feel like the price for the quantity and quality is well worth it.
Mini Hazelnut Mousse | $2.25
I zoomed in for this photo, but the mini mousse cakes are similarly sized as petit fours.
I selected the hazelnut flavor to try something different. The texture was so soft, it reminded me of tiramisu. The mousse was amazing. The cake/mousse had an aftertaste of the hazelnut. It was light and airy with the little crunch from the chopped pieces on top. I would give this an 8 of 10.
Mini Raspberry Mousse | $2.25
I had a bite of this raspberry mousse cake. The flavor was brighter and stronger than my hazelnut cake. The filling was ice cold too, which made it even better. My sister gave this a 9 of 10 and said she would order it again.
It was now early morning and more customers came to pick up their morning pastries despite the rain. A new woman took over behind the counter. I browsed the room as I sipped my coffee.
A couple took the two top table directly behind us. They ordered pastries and coffee and were served on dine-in china with silverware. We had been balancing our pastries on top of the pastry box and drinking our coffee from the to-go cups. It was good to know that you could actually sit down and eat in the bakery like a normal restaurant.
Sometimes cars lined along the side street nearest the bakery — parking with their hazards on to run into the bakery and select some items. A number of to-go orders came in and left, huddled in rain jackets.
St. Joseph’s Cannoli Cream Puff | $2.75
I’m curious about the “St. Joseph’s” naming for these cream puffs so I did some research. I’m not entirely sure if this is accurate or if Mattarello’s had another meaning behind the name.
According to my research, cream puffs — especially cannoli-filled cream puffs — are a Sicilian pastry made on March 19th in celebration of the Feast of San Giuseppe, St. Joseph’s Day.
My sister picked this pastry to try, and I’m glad she did. I enjoy learning about the history and culture behind these pastries.
The cannoli cream for this cream puff was folded with chocolate chips, so you had some texture with each bite. The shell of the cream puff was fresh and the candied orange peel was a nice touch. My sister gave this a 6 of 10 but I would give it an 8 of 10. The pastry delivers as promised, a solid amount of cannoli filling, in a cream puff.
St. Joseph’s Chantilly Cream Puff | $2.75
I selected the Chantilly Cream Puff, because I wasn’t sure what “Chantilly” referred to. According to a Google search, it’s another word for sweetened whipped cream.
This cream puff was dolloped with a giant swirl of the cream and stuffed with more too. Each bite of the cream puff had a great amount of cream-to-shell. The filling was very light — which makes sense as a whipped cream. I enjoyed the fresh strawberry on top to add bright flavor.
I would give this cream puff an 8 of 10.
Jelly Bombolone | $3.25
“Bombolone,” I learned, is an Italian-filled donut. Mattarello’s Bombolone caught my attention the minute I stepped up to the pastry case.
I selected the Jelly Bombolone, considering the majority of my other pastries were cream based.
I could tell the Bombolone was generously filled as it felt heavy as I lifted it from the box. It was fantastically fresh — my fingers squished the sides of the dough and the (raspberry) jelly was bright and filled throughout the entire Bombolone.
I loved this pastry! It was an easy 10 of 10 for me.
My Recommendations
My sister and her husband had another location to take me to. By now it was closer to 10:15 and more people were coming in from the streets to order pastries. We finished our drinks before leaving.
I would give my macchiato ($4.00) a 6 of 10. But my sister’s hot chocolate ($6.00) was a 12 of 10 — it was to die for. Decadent, rich, and in a giant cup, I wish I had ordered that!
We took the rest of the pastries with us. My sister ate the remaining pastries the next day. Her favorite was the carrot cake, which she gave a 10 of 10.
She did not like the croissant — which was shocking because it looked lovely in the case. She said the Napoleon and cannoli were your classic, tasty pastries.
I would return to Mattarello Bakery & Café — I love their clean brand and indoor seating.
Next time I plan to order my pastries and coffee to eat with plates and silverware. For some, the cost of pastries and coffee may be high, however, I feel that for the quality of the ingredients and the fact that Mattarello is located in Montclair, the prices are to be expected.
Looking for More Reviews?
If you’re looking for a new restaurant or bakery to try, you can browse all of my reviews here.
