Elevate your events with handmade Italian desserts delivered right to your door.
“There are only two cultures in the world: Italians, and those who wish they were,” says Johnnie Sorrentino with a smile.
In 2021, Johnnie and his wife, Evie, opened Café Evie/Rolli Cannoli, a delivery bakery celebrating la crème de la crème of Southern European desserts.
Evie, with her Puerto Rican heritage, and Johnnie, with his Italian ancestry, both spent their early years in the melting pot of New York before relocating to the Reno-Tahoe area 30 years ago.
“We grew up in the shadows of the beautiful ethnic New York bakeries of Northern Mediterranean origin,” Johnnie says fondly. “Our ancestors were from there and prepared homemade meals, including desserts from scratch with all natural ingredients.”
Johnnie spent his professional career in the world of startup tech and small-business consulting. Even with an expansive résumé, though, his greatest passion always has been connecting with his community. The draw to create a local bakery featuring both familiar and new desserts blossomed in 2021.
To honor the working classes of their childhoods and Reno, they designed their desserts to be authentic and affordable to everyone in the community. They began with two businesses that shared ownership and a kitchen, eventually rolling them into one comprehensive enterprise. The offerings include cannoli and a variety of desserts, all made with wholesome ingredients. And they feature delivery to Reno-Tahoe locations.
Decadent Delicacies
“When it comes to desserts,” says Johnnie, with a chuckle, who specializes in cannoli, “there is nothing better in the world than a fresh-filled cannoli, and there’s nothing worse than a soggy cannoli.”
Each hand-painted-chocolate cannoli is carefully hand-filled with ricotta impastata, a rich, coveted Italian cheese, and just a touch of powdered sugar for sweetness.
“We exclusively use ricotta impastata — the finest ricotta available only to the culinary market in America,” Johnnie says. “Ricotta impastata is very smooth, dense-textured, and drier than ricotta produced for retail consumption. We source it from a Wisconsin Italian cheese producer that has specialized in restaurant cheeses for over 80 years.”
What happens when you mix cheesecake and flan? Enter Evie’s specialty, the three-layer dream creme, a delectable fusion dessert with a variety of flavors, including limoncello, cacao, toasted coconut, and mango. The fluffy cheesecakes coupled with smooth flan are gluten-free and have zero added sugar.
“This is the most nutritious dessert anyone could ever eat,” Johnnie says, laughing. “There are people who eat it for breakfast.”
Year-Round Offerings
No matter the time of day or the day of year, if you want a dessert, Evie and Johnnie are ready.
When scheduling deliveries, they ask guests for their serving time. They agree on a delivery time that’s close to serving time to ensure it’s convenient and the products are fresh for guests.
In addition to deliveries, Café Evie/Rolli Cannoli offers in-person catering with its exclusive cannoli bar.
“You approach the bar and choose a shell, your filling flavor, and tip-dip,” he says. “Each cannoli is freshly piped for your guests to enjoy.”
No matter the dessert, though, Evie and Johnnie built their foundation on Old World tradition and continue their legacy to share heartfelt desserts with the community they love.
Café Evie/Rolli Cannoli
Deliveries throughout the Reno-Tahoe region
775-223-3384 · Cafe-evie.com
