New Thinking Cup Dares to Take on North End Pastry

An expansion of the downtown coffeeshop Thinking Cup is headed for the North End. But that's not all. According to Chowder, the new shop will brazenly go toe to toe with the neighborhood's two best-known pastry shops: Modern Pastry and Mike's Pastry. Says Thao Nguyen-Rich, Thinking Cup executive pastry chef: "We are going to definitely have cannoli—we want to be right in there between Modern Pastry and Mike's, and try to show them up." Which means Thinking Cup will feature its own take on classics like tiramisu, zeppole, amaretti cookies and biscotti. And now to address the elephant in the room. Mike's and Modern are legends. Everyone goes there all the time. But Eater readers, pastry connoisseurs, food nerds and the like will probably be thrilled to see some fresh, outsider pastry blood in this part of town, and it will certainly add a new edge to the old Pepsi v. Coke dynamic between the reigning champs. Expect an early October opening.

· Thinking Cup to expand with an Italian-leaning shop in the North End [C]
[Photo: Official Site]