Best of Boston

Yes, we love the biscotti (and the heavenly hazelnut meringues) at Biscotti’s, made by a strapping soccer-playing lad from Salerno (95 Salem Street, Boston, 617-227-8365). But on North End pastry expeditions, we head to Maria’s Pastry Shop, where Maria Merola continues to turn out her addictive, chocolate-drenched spice cookies; crunchy, shell-shaped sfogliatelle and extravagant lobster tails; soft, nearly fat-free anisette cookies; big, wheel-shapped taralli; and, of course, cannoli filled to order. Some North End traditions won’t change, come hell or Big Dig derricks.