The Italian Store, Lyon Village, Arlington, Virginia

A while back, I wrote about the muffuletta at Manifest Bread, the best I had tasted in the area — not that I’d tasted many here. I sent a BOLO for other muffulettas in the Washington area, and heard that The Italian Store had one. Meanwhile, Les Wexler, our Senior Deli and Great Lakes consultant, was in the mood for an Italian sub. The mission defined, we headed out.

The Italian Store has two locations, one in Lyon Village, and the other in Westover. We chose the original, the closer of the two, which occupies a small space in the Lyon Village shopping center. From the website photo, the Westover branch is larger and newer.

Indoor The Italian Store is crammed with all things Italian, including a large selection of wines, cheeses, amdmeat,

and a counter loaded with pre-made sandwiches. 

A note on the counter regretted that they couldn’t customize sandwiches that day — I’m guessing because of demand from office parties and other celebrations. Fortune smiled on us, however, as they had muffulettas and a choice of Italian subs all ready to go.

And to go we took them, as the Italian Store’s Lyon Village location turned out only to have outdoor seating. But Fortune smiled again and gave us a sunny day with a temperature that was child’s play for two hardy veterans of COVID lockdown dining.

Les, of course, ordered an Italian sub, the Capri ( $10.99). It had been encased in many layers of paper, as if someone had started daydreaming while wrapping, or perhaps was practicing for a career in mummification.

Within the swaddling was a very pretty sandwich.

Les had a Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray, the celery-flavored soda, something I’m pretty sure I never tried. I was raised on Coca Cola and the occasional Dr. Pepper, and have only had about four soft drinks per year since they changed to New Coke.

My muffuletta ($11.99) came on a round loaf, as per tradition, this one heavily covered with sesame seeds, a big plus in my view,

and it was stuffed with mortadella, provolone, smoked prosciutto, and Genoa salami, and topped off with olive salad and an oil and vinegar dressing.

Les and I traded sandwich halves and ate. Both sandwiches had very good quality meats and cheeses, and both were packed with well balanced flavors. These were about as well filled as you would want. Fortune was grinning broadly indeed.

But, as Solon told Croesus, “Men’s fortunes are on a wheel, which in its turning suffers not the same man to prosper for ever.” The Capri came on a soft sub roll and the muffuletta loaf was similarly soft. I know that many people prefer soft sub rolls, which is their right, and I’ll forego a jeremiad against soft sub rolls. Suffice it to say that I value a good crust highly. I’m a big fan of most breads, and nowhere is bread more important than when holding Italian meats and cheeses. The type of bread varies, but with rare exception it must have a crunchy crust — how crunchy varies from sandwich to sandwich. No crunch here. The bread also should add an independent flavor to the sandwich. Indeed, the bread is the glory of the Manifest Bread muffuletta, and it’s an important element of the noble G-Man at Mangialardo’s.

I hasten to add that The Italian Store offers their subs on hard rolls, and if Fortune hadn’t already shot its wad on the weather and the sandwiches being available, the hard roll subs would have been available and plainly marked.

Clearly, The Italian Store will get another try to test their hard rolls. I also noticed that their parmesan is about $5 per pound cheaper than my local stores, and their other wares bear examination, especially their Italian sausages, a staple of my home diet. See here, for example. Definitely give The Italian Store a try. The filling is that good. And don’t wait on me to try the hard rolls. Check it out.

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