Trinacria – A mini Italian village in our Baltimore backyard

Trinacria is a miniature Italian village in the middle of a deserted neighborhood. You have your liquor store, your bakery, your deli, your butcher, and your grocer all wrapped into a 100 year old delicious package. Seriously, if I could, I would never leave.

As you walk down the Paca Street block, there is an eerie quiet like the street does not want to give up the Trinacria secret. A few people quietly trickle in and out of the barred and antique 1908 storefront. When you open the door, you enter Italian paradise and a Baltimore gem.

The store is filled to the brim with numerous packaged and homemade goods like organized chaos. It is colorful and fragrant like an Italian market plucked from Rome and placed in our Maryland backyard. You want fresh bread; grab a loaf from the unwrapped pile that was baked that day. You want deli meat; grab a number, wait in line and ogle at the delectable selection. You want homemade meals; grab dozens from the frozen cases and eat Trinacria for the entire week.

For lunch, we wanted sandwiches and their sandwiches are genius. No slices of bread here. No way. For both of our sandwiches, the execution is the same. Take an entire loaf of bread, cut it in the half, and scoop out the bread insides. Then, pour an enormous amount of meat, cheese, and tomatoey goodness into the homemade bread until it is overflowing.

I ordered the meatball sub and my husband ordered the sausage sub both with extra cheese. The bread was soft on the inside with a slight crust on the outside. You could tell it was baked that morning. For me, the meatballs were moist and flavorful with enough seasoning that you could see specs of green. The sauce was slathered throughout the sandwich with chunks of tomato and onion. No skimping on the sauce which I definitely appreciate. I ate the majority of my sandwich until I came upon the cheese. It was like eating an entire meatball sub with a side of cheesy bread as an extra surprise. So delicious.

Trinacria is a Baltimore classic that everyone should experience. Grab a sandwich, grab your groceries, and enjoy seeing a business that is 100 years in the making.