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Categories: Delis, Sandwiches, Coffee & Tea, Beer, Wine & Spirits, Ethnic Food [Edit]
406 N Paca StTue-Sat. 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
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Such an amazing place! Trinacria is a treasure trove of deliciousness, but you wouldn't know it from the street. The grated windows and general dingy appearance are deceiving, but don't let it stand in your way.
At Trinacria, the diversity of delicacies available seem endless. There simply isn't enough space here, or time for that matter, to list them all. Basically, there is everything you need to make a phenomenal Mediterranean meal. My personal favorites are:
1. Fresh sliced meats - all fresh and half the price you pay at a supermarket
2. Deli sandwiches - made to order (even call ahead). get one with tapenade!
3. Pre-prepared, frozen lasagna, eggplant parmesan, sauces, meatballs, etc - awesome for a quick, delicious meal without the fuss.
4. Coffee! - super cheap and incredibly strong. An americano for $1. Can you beat that?
5. Cookies - does it need an explanation?
6. Olive oil - bring your own container and they'll fill it for super cheap
7. WIne - a large variety, and some on special for as cheap for $3.99.
8. Fresh baked breads - kalamata olive loaf, yum!
I could go on and on. Go and explore. You'll be inspired to create a wonderful meal. The only drawback is the limited hours - open until 4:30pm Tues - Sat. Closed on Sun and Mon.
Five stars just for being what it is where it is. This is the first place that I understood what an "old world" Italian store could look like. Many gallons of olive oil, Lavazza coffee, wine, DeCecco pasta, prosciutto, and olives later, I still remember heading back to my car with a box filled with goods that would last for weeks. Don't be put off by the bars of the windows. Just go on a Saturday morning (not on Sunday!) and bring cash or a checkbook. Really a cool place that welcomes first-timers amongst the throngs of regulars who are in the know.
I LOVE this place! The outside is so deceiving. Inside it's teeming with fresh breads and olives and cheeses, etc. And the sandwiches are top notch. The employees are total characters -- a must visit!
Trinacria is a hop, skip and a jump from my residence. I had driven and walked past it many times thinking that I should stop in and am glad I finally did. The exterior is lack luster but inside, there is a bustle of people, shelves of fresh breads, bottles of oil and olives, boxes of wines (not to be confused with "boxed wines") and much more.
Everything is reasonably priced including their sandwiches. I had the Italian Cold Cut which included spicy Italian meats, lettuce, tomato, oil, spicy peppers and provolone all packed nicely onto a fresh Italian loaf. At $3.99, it's one delicious and affordable lunch I will be purchasing often. For the same price, I sighted a fine bottle of olive oil, and loads of wine, which I now regret not picking up last visit.
My only complaint would be that the store is closed Mondays and is only open until 4:30 on days it is open.
I adore Trinacria! First, go first thing in the morning so you can get a fresh loaf hot out of the oven. They have olive and cheese bread piping from the oven.
The selection of premade lasagnas are amazing. Don't bother with the wine. It's usually on special and have never found it to be great. The cookies are delish and available by the pound. As are the large variety of olives.
There is everything you need in the store to create an authentic Italian meal. Just try not to eat your way through the store :)
Wow. How have I lived in Baltimore almost 3 years and not been to Trinacria until now. My new lab likes to do lunch on Fridays so yesterday they chose Trinacria. Located on Mulberry and Paca, It's a bit of a walk from work, but it was totally worth it. From the outside, you would not expect an Italian grocery with so many wonderful goodies just waiting for you on the inside. The windows are grated and look like they haven't been washed in 50 years. And the whole block around it is completely deserted...most other buildings look boarded up and/or abandoned.
The sandwiches are absolute heaven. I had the prosciutto with mozzarella and pesto on foccacia bread. mmm soo good. And I also bought their prosciutto bread. That was amazing. I brought it home to my folks' and we devoured it. On Fridays their lattes are half-price. I got a large for $1.75!
I will definitely be coming back here. In addition to their made to order sandwiches, they sell all sorts of deli meats and cheeses, dried pasta by the pound, frozen lasagnas, wine, cookies. Everything is so reasonably priced!! I'm already dreaming of my next sandwich.
Unprepossessing as the store front of this institution is, you must ignore it and push past the iron grated windows and door. You'll enter an old-timey Italian deli haven. There is a wall of cookies that would make a great jig-saw puzzle photo. They're not delicious, unfortunately. Go instead, for the cold-cuts, cheap everything and sandwiches. Squeeze your way to the back and peer into the freezers - you must take home a homemade frozen lasagna, right? Service can be scatter-brained to brusque, but hang in there. So worth it.
Trinacria - with an unkempt-looking storefront in a dull area northwest of Lexington Market - is a neat little Italian market. It has great freshly-baked bread and a nice, inexpensive selection of wine. When you go in, take a number, and wait (sometimes for quite a while) to order/check out. On Saturdays this place can be, unexpectedly, very packed.
The sandwiches are good but I don't find them quite as well made as the ones at Mastellone's. The subs are huge and reasonably priced, but seems like too much emphasis is placed on making them big (serving each in essentially a small loaf of bread) and not enough on the meat/cheese combinations inside. Mastellone's feels more authentic. The wine selection is nice and there are tons of wines selling for as low as $4.
Trinacria is a beautiful, beautiful thing. I don't understand why anyone would go anywhere else for their quality Italian cuisine needs when you have almost everything here and for effin' CHEAP (what a concept!). Maria pretty much covered everything but here are a few other things of note:
1) The amazingness of their deli counter needs to be reiterated--the bulk olive oil, the CHEESES, the delicious deli meats, oh and the OLIVES! I don't think I'll ever buy bulk olives anywhere else.
2) Italian cookies!! By weight! And cheap!
3) The frozen meatballs and eggplant parmesan made by the store make good easy meals. Oh and they have great pre-made sauces. Who the hell needs Prego?
4) One stop spot for impromptu fancy picnics. Made-to-order sandwiches + wine + cookies = good to go.
Some tiny, tiny gripes:
1) Sometimes the bulk basil is a bit sketchy but when it's fresh, it's a good deal.
2) Like most everything in downtown, they close early (4:30pm) and they're closed on Sundays and Mondays. Sadness.
3) Bring your own shopping bag! Which I fully support but sometimes, I just forget and have to haul everything awkwardly in a cardboard box.
What they lack they totally make up for in quality and price.
I have said I am not a food snob, and it's true. But I am half Italian-American, which means, among other things, that I am not familiar with the concepts of storebought tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese from a can. I know the difference between rotini and rotelle. I have a spaghetti jar and it is always stocked. And as much as I usually shop at hippie organic markets, buying Italian groceries at those places usually isn't worth the unnecessarily high prices and weird selection.
I know there are a couple of other independent Italian groceries in Baltimore, even if you don't count Ceriello Fine (read: bougie) Foods in Belvedere Square. Mastellone's and DiPasquale's are great and each have their own local followings, but as for me...I keep coming back to Trinacria.
This tiny place on an otherwise completely uninteresting block on the west side of Downtown has been around since 1900. It has always been owned by the same family. They've got a fabulous selection of imported canned goods, pastas and other groceries, but I always get the store-made dry pasta ($0.79 a pound last time I checked). Recently they've started selling olive oil in bulk--bring your own bottle or buy one of theirs. In the back and lining the front of the deli counter are various random varieties of wine, seriously priced to move. Wine clearance and special prices range from $3.99 to $6.99 a bottle.
And oh, the deli counter. Italian cheeses (Reggiano for $10.49/lb--take that, Whole Foods), homemade Italian sausage, cold cuts, and a few different kinds of olives. Sandwiches made to order are heavenly--what makes the difference is the crusty, homemade bread and fresh ingredients.
Trinacria is pretty old-school. They're not open into the evening or on Sundays. I'm pretty sure they only started accepting credit cards within the last year or so. And it can get packed on Saturdays when people come from far and wide to stock up for the week, so take a number.
The location is odd, but convenient if you live in Downtown, Mt. Vernon, Seton Hill or Bolton Hill. Also convenient for me, a former Baltimore resident who now mostly comes into town for classes at UB.
The staff is always friendly and helpful and they do remember their repeat customers. Trinacria is a gem--I wish there were a place like it near my house.
I heard of this place through a friend and I decided to check this place out. The place is really close to Lexington Market but I've never been there in the 8 years I've lived in Baltimore. The store looks like it's an abandoned house with barred windows but once you walk in, you see it's actually an Italian grocery with alot of people crowding around. The sandwiches are so good and they freshly bake all of their breads. I tried the chicken parm and muffaletto andwiches which were very good. The sandwiches are huge and you can easily share one with someone else. They have a large selection of wines which are very reasonably priced and you can also buy their homemade pasta sauces, frozen foods, desserts and olive oil. I wish I knew about this place earlier but whenever I'm around the area, I will definitely think about stopping by and trying some of their other sandwiches and even buying some of their home made sauces. The only sad thing is there are no tables or anywhere to eat around here so it's takeout only and it's only open until 4:30pm from Tuesday to Saturday.
The best subs/sandwiches in bmore! Seriously I love this place! You can get decent wine for $4! Yes $4! Peruse the wines in front of the deli counter while you wait for your sandwich and you're sure to find something more than worth the $3.99. Their meatball sub is excellent (make sure they put enough sauce on it), the sopressata also really good but my gf LOVES the proscuitto...the fresh mozz and pesto really make the sandwich. They have tons of other foodstuffs for sale (it's like a little italian market with a deli in it)...canned goods, dried herbs/spices, frozen pastas as well as assorted baked goods, desserts, italian cookies, etc. plus a lot more wine (more than $3.99 but still cheap!). If we had it our way, we'd go there at least once a week! So take the $5 you'd spend on a tasteless Subway sub, take it to Trinacria and for a buck more get some serious sandwich deliciousness.
EVERYTHING in this store is delicious. There's alot of personality to it too. My favorite thing there is the made fresh daily prosciutto bread. And the staff is really nice. Plus its extremely reasonably priced.
Parkville, MD
Category: Grocery
Baltimore, MD
Category: Bakeries
Baltimore, MD
Category: Sandwiches
Baltimore, MD
Category: Ethnic Food
Baltimore, MD
Category: Delis
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