Vace Italian Deli, Bethesda, Maryland, and Washington, DC

I know I’d been to Vace Italian Deli before, at least the one at 3315 Connecticut Avenue down in Cleveland Park, I just can’t remember when. I didn’t even know there was a Vace in Bethesda, although there it is at 4605 Miller Avenue. But then I’d never heard of Miller Avenue. It’s just a half-block long byway for which someone once had great plans. Now it must be embarrassed to bear the noble name of “Avenue” — or would be but for Vace.

That’s the Bethesda location, above. It looks pretty large, but it’s actually just a tiny space packed with all manner of Italian specialties — sausages, wines, prepared dishes, and pizza and subs for carry out. They seem to have more options than most supermarkets, at least more that you’d really like to eat. The Cleveland Park location is the same layout: everything Italian that your heart could desire crammed into a shoebox.

Vace has long been famous for its pizza, sandwiches, and other Italian treats. I hadn’t been largely because it’s carryout only, Nancy doesn’t eat pizza, and the pizzas are large enough that for me to eat the whole thing would be completely possible and a mistake.

I went to both, first the Bethesda location, as part of my ongoing Italian sub survey. I ordered the Italian Cold Cut — Genoa salami, ham, mortadella, and mozzarella cheese, with Italian dressing on a hard roll — and added hot peppers to the standard lettuce, tomatoes, and dressing. Here it is.

Isn’t that a pretty roll? You also can have a soft roll, and add onions, mayonnaise, balsamic vinegar, mustard, or, for 50 cents, basil or sun dried tomatoes. They’ll also scoop out the bread if you like, which could be a good idea, the bread being very dense. You also can add other meats for a dollar or two (or three for imported prosciutto). They have 13 meat options for the sub and I suppose you can include them all.

Here’s a side view.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever. On impulse, I also ordered a slice of pizza with mushrooms. The crust was firm and didn’t bend, except for the point, which I’d crushed a bit in putting the slice in the bag and throwing the sub on top of it.

As you can see, the sauce is on top of the cheese. The mushrooms were flavorful, and the pizza has a good ratio of sauce, cheese, and crust. So many pizzas are overloaded with cheese. Regular readers may not recognize that the photo was taken on the front seat of our car — did I tell you that we bought new seat covers? — a sign that I didn’t wait to get home to try the pizza.

One good sandwich deserves another, and I soon headed to the Vace’s in Cleveland Park for another Italian sub. I couldn’t get a photo pf Vace’s because DC’s Campaign Against Parking is tearing up the side street by the entrance, and the area was crowded with machinery. The Cleveland Park Vace’s is somewhat smaller than the Bethesda location but manages to squeeze in every conceivable Italian food product.

This time I added spicy sopressata to the basic Italian sub, as well as my usual hot pepper relish.

I also decided to get a slice of pepperoni pizza,

and, deciding that in fairness I should try a slice of white pizza as well, I chose one with spinach.

Let’s take them in reverse order. The spinach on the white pizza tasted very good, but overall the slice needed more garlic and probably less cheese. A white pizza should be garlic-forward. Still, it was fine.

The pepperoni slice was very good, right there with the mushroom slice. Again, the elements were balanced beautifully.

The sopressata kicked the Italian sub up several notches. It improved the taste of the sandwich by adding boldness to the flavor, and it improved the bread-to-filling ratio. Compare the photos of the two subs. The sopressata elevated the sandwich to the Delicious Plus Level, possibly making it the second best Italian sub in the Washington area. You really should try one, or make your own mixture of meats. And try the pizza. You’ll enjoy it.

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