REVIEW

Torino, a 45-year-old Italian bakery, is down towards the western end of the Broadway shopping strip anchored on the east by Tony’s Newburgh Lunch. If the name Newburgh conjures mental images of the worst symptoms of urban decay, rest assured that this piece of Broadway, not far from the New York Thruway, is something of an oasis.

Christmas Eve afternoon in Torino

They are well-known for their cannoli and sfogliatelle; they offer over 30 types of butter cookies; they bake not only Italian bread, but rye, challah, and New York-style cinnamon raisin bread; during the appropriate holidays they offer panettone, Easter bread, pizza rustica, cassata, hot cross buns… and we’ve never tried any of it. We’ve sampled just one thing at Torino, but they were so good we felt the need to get the word out: biscotti.

Biscotti are Italian twice-baked cookies, dry, hard, and crunchy. They are perfect with a cup of espresso or sweet wine. Unfortunately, the modern American take on biscotti has added sugar and fat, turning them into tender, very sweet cookies, often coated with a thick layer of chocolate or some pastel-colored substance, perhaps further garnished with sprinkles. No, what we love are the Italian original, very crunchy, usually studded with nuts, mildly sweet.

And that’s just what Torino offers. They bake biscotti in classic almond or with hazelnuts, in chocolate and vanilla, some with a modest drizzle of chocolate, but there’s nothing overblown about them. The flavors are clean, pure, and modest, the sweetness is understated, and the texture is just right.

If you’re barreling up the Thruway toward upstate New York or New England, we recommend you make the small detour to Newburgh and pick up a box of biscotti to bring to your ultimate destination. When you’ve brewed your pot of coffee the next morning, you’ll be glad you did.

LAF TRAK: 

FOOD:

BEST THING TO EAT: Biscotti