Navigating Little Italy

Make like Chris Columbus and discover everything this enclave has to offer

By Michael Cook
Special to Metromix

A Baltimore neighborhood with lots of restaurants, lots of parking and almost no muggings? Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Well, it is true in Little Italy. OK, we can't promise complete safety here, but rumor has it the Italian families still look out for people wandering the streets of Baltimore's compact, but thriving, Little Italy. The neighborhood swells with Italian pride, from the fire hydrants painted in the colors of the Italian flag to the homemade pasta to the servers and little old ladies with thick Italian accents.

Some restaurants in Little Italy provide the finest dining in Baltimore. Others offer the best subs and pizza in town for just a few bucks. In the middle are tons of restaurants that will remind you that Ragu is very definitely not Italian cooking. We considered the quality of the gratis bread, the sauces and the tiramisu and the heft and price of the wine list as we set out to rate Little Italy's offerings. Though we couldn't rate every restaurant on every one of these criteria, we did our best.

From the mountains of Abruzzo to the island of Sicily, from the wines of Tuscany to the pizzas of Naples, Little Italy brings Italian food to Baltimore. So go eat, or as the ladies in the deli would say, "mangia, mangia!"

Restaurants are organized by price, from most expensive to bargain, and the five best spots we found on this culinary journey have been labeled as "Best of Navigating Little Italy."