Address: 2883 Mission Street, between 24th and 25th
Cuisine: Italian Baked Goods
Date Visited: May 19, 2007
SFWeekly is one of my favorite publications because it has a great food section. I also like Where and 7x7 a lot. So when I heard that SFWeekly was coming out with its next Best Of list, I was excited. I went to their website, I downloaded the Best of Food and Drink list they already had posting, my dumb self thought it was the most current one. I noticed Dianda’s Italian American Bakery right away because it’s in a neighborhood I go to every so often. It is on Mission Street between 24th and 25th. It’s a really short walk from the 24th Street BART Station.
You’ll know you are in the right place if you see the mural of the cultural center:
I went in the bakery and it looked really familiar. I realized that I went to their San Mateo location in the Crystal Springs area like 2 years ago with Niktor. We went there to get cream puffs, which in all honesty, I didn’t really like. It had a nail polish-tasting component to it. Who knows, maybe they had a bad day. So definitely I knew I wasn’t going to get the cream puffs.
I walked in and there was a line. A line = customer loyalty due to good products. So I thought, “So these are the folks who voted the place into the Best Of list.” The place is really cute and the display cases were beautiful. There were pies first when you get in line. They are to the right of the line:
And then the pastries:
And then the sliced cakes:
They are known for their almond paste and rum cake, but maybe next time. THEN I saw the rectangular strawberry cake and I fell in love. I told the worker that I saw them on the Best Of list in SFWeekly and I wanted to check them out. He told me that they have been in business for 45 years. That’s a lot of years, folks. He then said, “The total is three-twenty-five, just for you.”
“Just for you.” ??? Does that mean that they usually add tax, but he didn’t for me? Hmmm. Maybe I should go back and see. =) He put my cake in a little box, I paid and I was on my way.
I couldn’t wait to see and taste my cake:
So it was a basic white cake with a light whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Y’all know that strawberries and I have had a love affair for as long as I can remember. The strawberries were sweet and fresh. Loved it. The cake itself was not very sweet, mainly because the sweetness from the strawberries carries this whole cake.
Sorry, it's a bit blurry.
I was so excited that I had a chance to try this place out. I’m keeping track of all the places off the Best Of list that I have been to. The moded part was that the list Dianda’s was on, is from 2006. GAH! Poor guy, I told him the article I saw it was from a recent issue, and he said he was going to check it out. Now he’s probably going crazy looking for it. But! Dianda’s is still a very good place. I wouldn’t go for the cream puffs; unless you like the taste of nail polish. But their strawberry cakes are awesome. What is cool is that you can get 4 different flavored cakes and basically have enough to feed 6-8 people at only about 14 dollars. I will be coming back very very soon. =)
