Less determined owners might have given up on Trinacria Italian Cafe, an offshoot of the well-known North Paca Street deli.
After opening in 2014, the Mount Vernon café was damaged during the unrest following Freddie Gray's death, and then faced a loss of business while a nearby sinkhole was being repaired for almost nine months.
Instead of bemoaning the restaurant's fate, owner Vince Fava, whose grandfather founded Trinacria in 1908, took advantage of the situation. He closed the cafe in June for renovations and reopened in mid-August.
The result: a spruced-up dining space that is more of a restaurant than a deli. It's a place where you'll want to linger.
Fava scaled back on the groceries for sale, although there are some shelves with items like spaghetti sauce, and added high-top tables and window seating at the corner restaurant that overlooks Park Avenue and Centre Street.
He had murals painted on the room's columns, depicting Baltimore scenes like the Washington Monument. He also incorporated renditions of old food labels on the walls, like the one for a 2-pound box of macaroni for 31 cents, and installed the original deli's wooden pasta drying racks.
"Now it's a spot where people can feel comfortable sitting down with a glass of wine," Fava said. "I wanted to incorporate the feel of the neighborhood."
The menu includes entrees like baked ziti, pizzas with house-made dough, hot and cold subs, and paninis. There's a wine list with a healthy representation of Italian vintages. The bar also serves beer and cocktails like a Negroni or a margarita.
You feel welcome as soon as you walk in the door, with the bartenders greeting you enthusiastically. They're your servers, too.
"I wanted to try and make it a local spot," Fava said. "It's a light-fare restaurant-bistro with a casual feel."
Scene & Decor The corner cafe with an L-shaped bar has a friendly vibe, with comestibles on shelves and a cold case with dishes like ravioli welcoming you as you enter. Columns painted with murals give charm to the dining room with bare tables, high-tops and big windows.
Appetizers We started with a sausage marinara ($6), featuring two giant links redolent with fennel. The sausages were covered with a flavorful marinara sauce sprinkled liberally with Romano cheese, and came with a thick, delicious slice of herb-garlic bread. We liked that the Greek salad ($9) was served with a piquant thyme-flecked dressing on the side. The crisp greens had plentiful olives, tomatoes and feta in the mix. You can also make it a main dish with the addition of chicken, Italian tuna or grilled shrimp.
Entrees We enjoyed the arugula pizza ($16) with its thin, chewy crust. The custom dough is hand-stretched in house and ranges in size from 10 to 12 inches, depending on who is working on the pie; one is enough to share. Our choice was lathered with tomato sauce, mozzarella, large pieces of prosciutto, shreds of arugula and shaved Parmesan. I don't usually find fault with cheese, but Trinacria's spinach lasagna ($13) was overloaded with ricotta, shredded mozzarella, provolone and Parmesan. We would have liked more spinach in the mix. But we thought it was great that the pasta dish came with a side Caesar salad and garlic bread for a bargain meal.
Drinks Italian and other regional wines, beer and cocktails.
Service Our servers-bartenders were attentive, friendly and knowledgeable about the menu.
Dessert The dessert we had wasn't on the menu, which includes cannolis, tiramisu and cheesecake. But one of our servers promoted the sundae ($6), and we went with his suggestion. It was worth it. The concoction was layered with Trinacria's house-made tiramisu, chocolate gelato, chocolate sauce and whipped cream, and punctuated with maraschino cherries for a terrific finish. We asked for two spoons.