Pittsburgh classic
The story
In 1993 Larry Lagattuta quit his corporate job to bake biscotti. He said later that the office felt like going to jail. Larry grew up in Beechview, one of six kids, and when La Prima owner Sam Patti lost his biscotti supplier in St. Louis to a fire, Larry asked if he could take a shot at it.
That little bakery on Penn Avenue became one of the Strip's defining places. Enrico now bakes about 30 kinds of biscotti, around 2,000 pounds a day, along with bread. Down the alley, look for the iron biscotti with wings; that's the cafe.
Larry taught bread classes to generations of Pittsburgh cooks, and his life inspired the movie The Bread, My Sweet. He died in June 2023 at 65, and the Strip still feels him in every loaf.