Foodies, rejoice. Popular Italian desserts and treats are now available right around the corner in Port Chester, New York at Zeppoleme.
The café opened in June 2013 and has received rave reviews from a variety of food blogs and magazines.

Zeppoles, which are sugar-dusted fried Italian dough balls, come in multiple sweet and savory flavors. The sweet varieties include oreo, chocolate chip, and cake batter. They can be served modern style, which is a lighter version made with ricotta, or classic style, which is made from pizza dough and dusted with sugar. A third option is a filled zeppole, which is a donut stuffed with cannoli cream, berry jelly, or chocolate espresso paste.
The classic zeppole has a fresh taste and a warm, airy inside. The zeppole can be ordered with a rich hazelnut nutella sauce to complement the warm dessert. Zeppoleme also offers buttercream, lemon, vanilla, and seasonal sauces to add flavor to the fried dough balls.
In addition to zeppoles, the café serves a variety of paninis, pasta dishes, salads. The paninis range from a classic imported prosciutto panini with mozzarella and basil to a spicy eggplant panini with pepperoncino peppers and goat cheese. Zeppoleme even serves breakfast paninis, such as a bacon, egg and cheese.
“Surprisingly, the bacon egg and cheese is our most popular menu item, it outsells every month constantly,” Zeppoleme hospitality manager Mr. Mario Salov said.
Zeppoleme attracts Sacred Heart customers as a quick lunch option for seniors who can eat off campus.  For clubs, such as the Katrina Krewe, the inexpensive restaurant also delivers to the school.
“My club Katrina Krewe ordered it for lunch and it arrived quickly and tasted really good,” senior Claire O’Neill said.
The café’s most popular zeppoles is the oreo zeppole. Compared to the modern zeppole, it is rounder in shape and covered in oreo cookie crumbles. While the buttercream sauce could have been a little bit softer and easier to dip the zeppole in, the flavor tasted great.
While Zeppoleme has only been open for a little over a year, its future appears bright. Praised by publications like The New York Times and Port Chester Patch, the café has a growing fan base.
“We think change is essential to the way we do business and we like to make changes to our menu every 6 months, so there are always new things to look forward to,” Mr. Salov said.
-Julia Perry, Photo Editor