Whether you're shopping for a big pasta dinner or just restocking the pantry, Three Brothers Italian Market is hard to beat. The range of goods is impressive—one-pound tins of rosemary leaves and colorful jars of spicy pickled peppers share shelf space with sauce pots, pans, and pasta makers.
Impressive, too, are the low prices. You won't find any $7.99-a-pound pastas here—the most expensive artisanal variety costs $3.99 a pound, with most brands around $2. Hard-to-find shapes include the zitilike occhi di lupo and giant tube-shaped paccheri.
Plan on a trip to Three Brothers' red-sauce restaurant next door before leaving—the smells wafting into the market make it hard to resist getting a slice of pizza and a cannoli before heading home.
Three Brothers Italian Market, 4521 Kenilworth Ave., Bladensburg; 301-864-1570.
This article appeared in the January, 2009 issue of The Washingtonian.
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