The thing about Marchone's is it isn't a destination Italian delicatessen. It's not so different from many others of its kind. But what marks it out is its line of 'Anna' pasta. This manufacturer of dried pasta makes unusual shapes, like gemelli which look like roll ups loosely formed by wet fingers that might have come out of a kindergarten art class, and huge tubes they call, surprisingly, fettucini (sic). But it also does a line in wholewheat pasta, with penne, spaghetti and gnocchi in a mushroom shade of brown. This stuff is a rarity on Washington deli shelves.

There's a cheerful and helpful man behind the counter you face when you enter, slicing charcuterie that follows the usual run but looks a little tired. Opposite him, in tall chiller and freezer cabinets, are home-made take-out meals worth investigating. You can't go very wrong with anything Italian in a tomato sauce, can you?

In the back is a sandwich counter that is never short of customers. On its menu is a regular list of Italian standards. But there's also a daily special which might on a good day include porchetta.

The grocery shelves are stacked with the usual canned and dried goods. But you'll also find vacuum-packed gnocchi in two flavors you could work imaginative wonders with, along with the jars and cans of tomato sauce, pasta sauces, vegetables in oil and more. There's an acceptable though not particularly seductive range of biscotti and other baked and packaged cookies, and in the chiller cabinets products by Boar's Head, including a bizarre roll of prosciutto wrapped around provolone cheese. Go there for toothsome supplies of the wholewheat pasta.

Marchone, 11224 Triangle Ln, Wheaton, 301 949 4150.