The Italian Store at Westover, Arlington, Virginia

I reported here on a trip Les Wexler and I made to the Italian Store at Lyon Village. We split an Italian sub and a muffuletta, and agreed that the meats were very good, but the soft rolls were … not ideal. I like a crust. Your views may differ. We also learned that they do have hard rolls at the other Italian Store branch in the Westover neighborhood, a couple of miles deeper into Arlington. So I spurred our noble Rav4 (with the new seat covers) to the Westover branch at 5837 Washington Boulevard for another try.

The Lyon Village branch was a small place in a fading shopping center doomed to the wrecking ball when interest rates fell. It’s crammed with Italian foods and wines with only a couple of unshaded tables out front. The Westover branch is newer, larger, nicer, and crammed with Italian foods and wines.

There’s also a pizzeria, a room for wine tasting, an upstairs I didn’t explore, and a coffee bar that I bet is outstanding. And there’s a well-shaded area for eating outside.

I went to the counter and saw that they have small subs for $9.99 and large ones for $10.99. I didn’t want to eat a whole lot, so I ordered a small Capri on a hard roll. Sorry, no small hard rolls, only for large subs. I can roll with the punches, so I ordered a large Capri (prosciutto, Genoa salami, provolone, and spiced capicola) with lettuce, thinly sliced strands of onion, oregano, sweet peppers (since hot peppers were unavailable). and their own Italian dressing. I added some hot soppressata.

I watched the congenial employee assembling my sub from the snipping of the ends of the roll to the jamming of everything into the roll.

I received the sub, paid ($14.11, with $2 extra for the soppressata and $1.12 for miscellaneous taxes), and repaired to one of the shaded tables. There I opened the sub. Behold!

And the side view.

Another

The photos would have been better it I had taken the sandwich out of the bright sunlight, but I don’t take sandwiches out into the bright sunlight when the temperature hits 90.

This is a huge sandwich, easily good for two meals — two of my meals at that. And it was delicious. There was a good amount of each meat, including the often skimped-on prosciutto, and all of the meats were of high quality, well made, well seasoned. And the hard roll was excellent, worthy of the meat it embraced so lovingly. This is a contender for the Best Italian Sub in the Area. I need to get back to Mangialardo’s.

The meal was further seasoned by friendly conversation with some other diners, most prominently two knowledgeable fans of Mexican food culture. I learned that El Toro, a small store in Laurel, makes their own Oaxacan cheese, and that the best tortillas are made at Lily’s Latin Market in Columbia. If you order fresh tortillas to carry out, they’ll give you a stack hot from the cooker. (It’s best to then wrap them in a towel to take home.) I noticed that they were sharing a bottle of Il Bastardo Sangiovese and, discerning their interest in quality comestibles, I went back in and bought a couple of bottles. 

I wrapped up and took the remaining half sandwich home. Again, this was a fine sandwich on a good roll. If there’s a better Italian sub on a hard roll in the area, please tell me. Meanwhile, hustle over to Westover and get a sub and doctor it to your taste. And look around the store. There’s a lot to love at the Italian Store.

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