This chair says it all. Watch me gild the lily with my keyboard. Or not. Stop reading NOW. Everything you needed to know about Isabella’s, you can learn from this chair. 
Baltimore’s Little Italy survives and thrives. Wrecking balls in my town are not bred with such respect. Little Italy in DC, were it to exist, would have been reduced to Teensy Italy and then caged by chains. Wish I didn’t have to say that is so, but tis true.
Isabella’s back 40 has bocce courts bordered by red, green and white park benches. The front .40 has 3 chairs, no waiting. A continuum of men, sitting, arms folded, taking it in. Or not. Perhaps their role is to put it out. To put out a sense of time standing still. A continuum of warm summer afternoons with the sound of bocce balls cracking in the middle distance.
“Get a loada this joint,” was all I could think as I snapped away silently with my iPhone. Baltimore Magazine brought me up to Isabella’s to do some styling for an upcoming cover, and this job WAS fun. What a find!
The proprietor of Isabella’s for about 4 years, Dan Stewart is a man who accommodates with gusto. You want it? He’s got it, before you asked. A top Baltimore single – you heard it here first – Dan is a vine ripened Roma ready to be picked. He’s handy with a pizza, quick with compliment, easy on the eye and knows how to dress a sandwich.
“I just couldn’t,” I said, insincerely, as Dan wrapped me a porchetta sandwich to ride. Happy hammy dance. A sandwich in a plain white wrapper, a sandwich that looks plain, a sandwich that doesn’t shout about its size or complexity or originality… my kinda sandwich. Top Baltimore sandwich – you heard it here first.
My mouse is all slick.
The Lunch Encounter 