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The Italian Store, Sandwiches, Pizza, Groceries, and Vino - with Two Locations in Arlington


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This would *really* help Toby's in the same way that Zinga helped Backyard Barbecue - I'll bet their business has doubled since Zinga opened, even though one's initial instinct might be to think that a rival food establishment opening would hurt things. It would've also helped Arax Cafe, but it's too late. :(

Even though they're direct competitors, I'd guess that The Italian Store in Spout Run makes Burger Joint busier, although this one I'm not so sure about.

I was in there at 3 PM on a Monday and there were 20 people waiting - I wonder how many sandwiches they sell a day (more than any other non-fast-food restaurant in the DC area, perhaps).

I think you are correct Don. On a couple of occasions, I have looked at the line in the Italian store and decided to go to the Burger Joint instead. In fact, that is how I came to try Burger Joint for the first time.

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Maybe confusing Italian Store with the Italian Gourmet?  Italian Gourmet was in the shopping center at Nutley and 123.  Not sure if it is still there.  Same type of place but almost positive not the same owners.  The Gourmet had awesome pepperoni rolls though.  That I definitely remember.   

Different stores.  Italian Gourmet is the one at Nutley and 123.  Italian Store used to be in Vienna.  I thought it was in the strip where Pure Pasty is now located.  Been gone  a long time, though.

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Sorry Don, you are not correct. It was the Italian Store, and it was in the Giant shopping center on 123. It was approximately where the Popeye's is now.

Well then, I learned something new today - I had no idea (in this way, I think I've always criss-crossed The Italian Store with Vace in my mind (whose second store is in Beth... oh, never mind)). :)

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I am almost positive that the second location of the Italian Store was in the old Seven Corners Mall, somewhere between the Woodies and Garfinkles!

It seems like such a long time ago, and if memory serves, was owned by another member of the Tramonte family...I could be hallucinating, though!

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I am almost positive that the second location of the Italian Store was in the old Seven Corners Mall, somewhere between the Woodies and Garfinkles!

It seems like such a long time ago, and if memory serves, was owned by another member of the Tramonte family...I could be hallucinating, though!

Yes! I used to go there when I worked in Falls Church, lo those many years ago. Good call.

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The rumor is floating around the owners of Westover shops, but the 7-11 recently remodeled, and apparently still has their lease - if anything happens, it may be awhile in the future. (This is second-hand information given to me by one of the merchants there.) That 7-11 has a disproportionate amount of parking for its size, however, and 75% of the parking lot (around the side) is being wasted.

Speaking of which, has anyone ever ventured up to Forest Inn? This must be one of the most unknown and hidden restaurants in all of Arlington.

Well looks like we got this one right, according to an Arlnow article 18 months later

"New Italian Store Location To Replace 7-11 In Westover"

I posted my question so long ago, I don't even remember who my original source was.

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Is it just me or do the signs at Westover come off as rude?  The Italian Store has a bunch of signs saying no parking 24/7 for construction and yet all weekend, no construction for the last three weekends.  While I love TIS, I think it is rude overkill and does not make me feel friendly toward the store. I would suggest taking them down or changing to M-F..or take up less of that parking lot.

I am so glad that I got this out of my system.  

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Is it just me or do the signs at Westover come off as rude?  The Italian Store has a bunch of signs saying no parking 24/7 for construction and yet all weekend, no construction for the last three weekends.  While I love TIS, I think it is rude overkill and does not make me feel friendly toward the store. I would suggest taking them down or changing to M-F..or take up less of that parking lot.

I am so glad that I got this out of my system.  

You may be right, I haven't seen them.

But there's a chance the contractor simply told The Italian Store, "We know what we're doing, so leave it to us." They might feel similar to you do, and have decided to take a passive approach - or, there's a chance they haven't seen the signs at all.

I'm not saying you're wrong, only that there are plausible scenarios that make The Italian Store innocent (they have an extended track record of customer friendliness, so it wouldn't hurt to give them the benefit of the doubt here).

That 7-11 had a *lot* of parking - I wonder if The Italian Store worked a deal with the landlord to secure all places for themselves. I hope this will help places like Toby's (don't forget, Toby Bantug is a member here who we should be supporting).

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Also if they are going through the county to get the no-parking signs, it is really difficult because you  just have to specify the dates you need and you have to post it at a certain time a certain number of days before you need it, making taking up and putting on new signs really difficult and the county probably wouldn't want to issue new signs all the time.  So they could just be following county regs. And Don is right, normally the contractor deals with the permitting to get those signs and other things.

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I think I had a muffolata sandwich here before.  As I recall it wasn't warm, but they did have the olive salad, it was on a big round bun, but if you are that close why not go to Bayou Bakery?

Because they're really not *that* close? I mean, in the same county, but yeah...if I was in Westover, hungry, and wanted a sandwich, I wouldn't drive to Courthouse just for a better specific one. (The original is closer, I will admit.)

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Ok, a small thing I don't understand.  I really love the Italian Store's blue cheese dressing.  I love it on their broccoli and tomato salad.  When I ordered a bulk order with a salad I got a tub of it with my order.  I went in the other day and asked if I could purchase the same exact tub and was told no.  Why not?  You make it in tubs that go with other orders, I just don't get why you wouldn't sell a tub to me.  I don't think it's a big deal.  Anyway I got a Napoli that was a little soupy, but otherwise good.  Also bought some gf pasta to try, frozen clams that I was told are really good, but I haven't tried yet and some other frozen pasta that I like.  Really thought about their square more deep dish pizza, it looked tempting.  At this point I am glad I didn't.  I made my stomach mad enough with the sub.  Mmmm spicy stuff.

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I went to the original place tonight for a takeout sub.  I got the "Philly" which does not show up on the online menu.  The capicola ham, which was good but nothing to write home about, overpowered whatever genoa salami was on the sub.  I asked for light hot peppers, not realizing that that meant I would get an overabundance of sweet peppers, which were good, but I do no like them on subs.  Looking back at the online menu, I see that they have a spiced capicola ham on the Capri, which I would have likely ordered, but I would swear that the in house menu board listed only prosciutto and genoa salami as the meats on that sandwich.

Good, but not great.  I will have to try again and see if the Capri matches up to what is indicated online.

Also, I got the soft roll, which was mediocre.  Is the hard roll the better vehicle for their subs?

The Hot Sicilian (dry coppa, Sicilian salami) at The Deli in Herndon (ordered with single serving of meat, the default is double) is much more to my liking, when they have someone who knows what they are doing making the sandwich.

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We did our annual condo holiday party and got catering from Italian Store.  Their sausage and peppers are outstanding.  We also had two tray of chicken parm, while it got pretty much all eaten, done catering style it just ends up not quite as crisp as I like mine, but was a big hit with our condo.  We got the penne sage which didn't do well over sterno it was with too hot or too cold and needed constant stirring.  We got the tortellini with alfredo sauce which I didn't eat.  The steak pizzialo with rigatoni was another big hit.  I will say though for the price the Italian Store is a great place for a party on a budget, but there are some things I like more than others.  I will try to convince them to get a sub platter next year.

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ArlNow retweeted Liam who tweeted that the Italian Store at Westover is open and was giving out free pizza.

I was at Village Sweet today, and they didn't think The Italian Store had opened - I see the picture, but I'm hesitant to announce it in the title just yet for fear of them being overrun during a soft opening.

Hang on, Toby Bantug - I think this is going to help you.

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So I got a Napoli from Westover yesterday.  They were very busy, but whomever was slicing meats left the casing on the pepperoni and so eating the sub, I kept getting floss like bites of casing that really wasn't pleasant (eaten later in the day, not at the store).  I don't feel like it warrants a call to complain, but I hope that this was a brief error.

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Last week Hubby did a good deed and brought home subs from the Italian Store one night I had meetings.  He either got me one from the bin, or he has no idea which sandwich I normally order despite ALWAYS ordering the Napoli.  But whatever it was, he is partial to the Capri so maybe that was it, it was good, it seemed stuffed to the gills with meat.  I warmed up the extra half in the oven the next day for lunch and had it toasty which was good too.

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Tom Sietsema was pimping the muffaletta at the Italian Store.  Has anyone had them from the Italian Store and Central Grocery?  Before I burn gas and rubber to Arlington, I just want to make sure the muffaletta compares favorably to the original.

I found an image online.

Muffaletta.jpg

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That looks like a pretty good facsimile. I'll have to bypass the usual at Italian Store and give it a try. My brother and I found years ago that a Central Grocery muff is the perfect food for a football game. One muff quarter per football quarter.

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1 hour ago, Ericandblueboy said:

Tom Sietsema was pimping the muffaletta at the Italian Store.  Has anyone had them from the Italian Store and Central Grocery?  Before I burn gas and rubber to Arlington, I just want to make sure the muffaletta compares favorably to the original.

48 minutes ago, Bob Wells said:

That looks like a pretty good facsimile. I'll have to bypass the usual at Italian Store and give it a try. My brother and I found years ago that a Central Grocery muff is the perfect food for a football game. One muff quarter per football quarter.

I've had muffalettas from both Central Grocery and The Italian Store, and after having the one from Central Grocery, I've never again gotten one from The Italian Store.

I can only imagine how much sodium is in Central Grocery's version, but The Italian Store's comes across as having double the salt.

Central Grocery ships their muffalettas, btw.

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3 hours ago, captcourt said:

I love (and almost always get) the Roma, extra sweet and hot peppers, at the Italian Store.  I once tried the muffaletta, and while I ate it, I kept wishing it was the Roma (I too am spoiled by Central Grocery on the muffaletta). 

Yep, the Roma is my sandwich as well.

I haven't had a sandwich here in a couple of years, and I've waffled about hard vs. soft rolls in the past (the hard is too hard, and the soft is too soft (actually that isn't accurate: The rolls in general are wildly unexciting)).

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On 6/12/2020 at 5:25 PM, DonRocks said:

Yep, the Roma is my sandwich as well.

I haven't had a sandwich here in a couple of years, and I've waffled about hard vs. soft rolls in the past (the hard is too hard, and the soft is too soft (actually that isn't accurate: The rolls in general are wildly unexciting)).

I've always been a hard roll kind of girl; the soft is definitely too soft.  At some point, the hard rolls became more crumbly than chewy.

What's your go-to sub these days?  (I realize that will now be OT in the Italian Store thread...)

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4 hours ago, captcourt said:

What's your go-to sub these days?  (I realize that will now be OT in the Italian Store thread...)

Now that you've mentioned it, I don't think I've had a sub (a sub-proper) in all of 2020. I've had plenty of sandwiches, but no subs that I can remember.

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1 hour ago, Ericandblueboy said:

I picked up a soft roll sandwich last week anddidn't like the bread much.  Is the hard roll better?

No. It's harder (and can absorb vinegar-and-oil more), but there's very little difference other than outer-layer texture, based on what I can discern. 

These are not great sandwiches. They're "okay," and that's based on a very low standard - I see nothing about them (bread, meat, cheese, or toppings) that's anything beyond mediocre.

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9 hours ago, DonRocks said:

These are not great sandwiches. They're "okay," and that's based on a very low standard - I see nothing about them (bread, meat, cheese, or toppings) that's anything beyond mediocre.

I thought these are hailed as the best in the area but I agree with you that they're just okay.  I like Santini's better but they don't give you a lot of meat.  So where in NoVa is there a good Italian sub/hoagie?  

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1 hour ago, Ericandblueboy said:

I thought these are hailed as the best in the area but I agree with you that they're just okay.  I like Santini's better but they don't give you a lot of meat.  So where in NoVa is there a good Italian sub/hoagie?  

I'm going to take incoming, but I have had enjoyable Italian subs on very good soft sub rolls from Bozzelli's in Springfield. The Metro is their classic Italian, and they just brought back their Luton Jet, which is a Man vs. Food gut bomb of a sub. This is a family-run business that has been operating since 1978, so I will support them as long as I'm in this area.

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4 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

I thought these are hailed as the best in the area but I agree with you that they're just okay.  I like Santini's better but they don't give you a lot of meat.  So where in NoVa is there a good Italian sub/hoagie?  

Santini's with double meat. :)

Do try a Funky Cuban at Market2Market (verification). I wouldn't drive there from Tysons, but if you ever find yourself in Del Ray? Sure.

The Muff-a-Lotta at Bayou Bakery is okay if you're in the Courthouse area - this place got off to a roaring first week (with perhaps more hype than any cafe that has ever opened in the DMV (David Guas is married to a publicist)), but the quality dropped off very quickly, and to the best of my knowledge, has never recovered.

Is Marshall considered NoVa? If so, get out to Red Truck Bakery. To the best of my knowledge, it has the best cakes in the DC area (their Meyer Lemon Cake is as good as any cake I've ever had), and everything else here is top-notch (I would say "bordering on world-class") also. Call and order some wine from Glen Manor Vineyards, and pick up some baked goods on the way home (*).

As long as I'm going off-topic, I hope everyone here knows about Livin the Pie Life on N. Glebe Road near Lee Highway? I have it rated in the Dining Guide as the #1 "restaurant" in North Arlington. It's carryout only, and most things are done here in the form of a pie - I highly recommend getting a Chicken Pot Pie for your order (assuming you like Chicken Pot Pie).

Incidentally, I went to Seylou for lunch yesterday - they're open and fantastic (I'm dying to pre-order some Cannelés here, but still haven't). Walk-ins can order off a little list sitting on a table at the front door, and they'll bring your food out to you.

(*)IMG_9418.JPG <--- As good as you think this cake looks, it's even better (and it lasts).

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On 7/14/2005 at 12:31 PM, monavano said:

Or a Philadelphia hoagie. Almost brought tears to my eyes the first time I had one. A real hoagie, really!!

I went to DC in order to get a G-Man sub at Mangialardo's at 1317 Pennsylvania Ave SE yesterday. I hadn't had one for over a year.  I usually order mine with oil and vinegar, hot peppers on a soft roll. Basically everything but sweet peppers and mayo. The G-Man is similar to the Roma at the IS but the Roma doesn't have pepperoni or fontina cheese and the oregano is a bit more noticeable in the G-Man. The Roma is a good sandwich, the G-Man is a great one.

That sandwich nearly brought tears to my eyes it was so good!  I like the Milano and the Capri at the IS, but Mangialardo's G-Man is bliss. I ate half of it parked in my car on Potomac Avenue behind the Harris Teeter, couldn't wait to get to a park.  I wrapped the other half up and took it to work in Arlington and wolfed it down in the parking lot there.

---

PrimoHoagies (buzzy)

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Was able to make a visit to the Spout Run location yesterday. That is some very good takeout pizza. I got a mushroom and an Allegra (chicken and red pepper). Perfect for a lunch.

Can never resist picking up a couple bags of Martins chips either, but I did resist the Berger Cookies on this visit.

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