Tripoli Bakery at 106 Common Street in Lawrence, Mass. is one of the best bakeries I have been to outside of Boston. Not too far down the street from Lawrence’s other hidden jewel, Cafe Azteca (which I raved about in an earlier post), Tripoli offers an amazing array of cookies, pastries, cakes, breads and even pizza. The bakery was opened back in 1944 by the Zappala family, and opened their other location at Salisbury Beach in 1945.  While the bakery serves just about everything from elephant ears to bismarcks, my favorite thing at Tripoli is their cannolis. If you’ve ever been to Mike’s Pastry in the North End, you will understand the importance when I say that Tripoli’s cannolis are just as good as Mike’s; just not as big. Tripoli offers chocolate, vanilla and Ricotta cheese filled cannolis, with or without chocolate chips. My personal favorite is the Ricotta with chocolate chips - the Ricotta is always fresh and creamy, and the pastry shell is perfectly light and crispy. And, personally, I can’t fathom eating a cannoli without the chocolate chips on the side; though I’m sure I could manage if I had to. Plus, Tripoli’s cannolis are smaller in size so I don’t feel as bad when I eat more than one.

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