Eataly is Italy!
MILLIE: New York welcomed us with snow flurries the day we arrived. Armed with a long list of restaurants to try, we braved the cold, extended winter and subway rides. Karla, who studied at the French Culinary Institute in New York and was adept with the subway system, efficiently led the way and I felt confident we would not get lost.
We originally wanted to try one of the restaurants of the famed B & B Hospitality Group by Mario Batali, Lidia and Joe Bastianich. We wanted to dine at Del Posto on 10th Avenue to see chef Ajja Ampil in action, a daughter of friends Tony and Chona. But somehow, we found ourselves already hungry and tired from all the shopping while on 5th Avenue, so my friend Linda Sanchez’s daughter Sabrina suggested we go to Eataly instead.
We were unprepared for what we saw. The entire place was a huge market, deli, and grocery rolled into one offering Italian goods and an Italian piazza with several small restaurants, all depicting Italian specialties such as a pizza-pasta corner; an area offering a wide variety of Italian cheeses; salamis, sausages, hams and other cold cuts galore with high cocktail tables and no chairs so people literally eat standing up; a wine-tasting station; a seafood market; a vegetarian nook; a restaurant with a beer brewery; a chocolate and confectionary station by Italian pastry chef Luca Montersino; an espresso bar; and even a designer culinary school offering cooking classes at night that functions as a restaurant by day! Whew!
KARLA: As soon as we walked in, we were overwhelmed as the place was swarming with people. It made us think how crowded the place would’ve been if we came during lunchtime. We first went around to take a look at the different sections of Eataly, which was an interesting concept. Aside from having seven sit-down restaurants, they developed counters so people can easily grab and go. Each counter or restaurant features a single item or concept to stream down the menu line. For the counters, there was a fresh pasta counter, bread, rotisserie, a gelateria, pastry and dessert counter, Caffe Lavazza, Caffe Vergnano, the espresso bar, which my mom absolutely could not get over. She just kept ordering one cup after the other and it led us to go back to Eataly two more times. The other counters are strategically located within the vicinity of restaurants that would need their products and services.
At the center of Eataly is the restaurant called La Piazza, where one can settle down at a marble bar or a standing table and order a variety of deli meats and cheeses. Counters surrounding this area are a fresh mozzarella bar, and the salumi and cheese counters. The restaurant Le Verdure is right next to the fresh vegetable market area, and has an extensive vegetarian menu. The restaurant Il Pesce carries fresh seafood items, from whole, oven-roasted fish to clams and oysters. There is also a more formal restaurant called Manzo, which features US beef as modern Italian and Piemontese dishes. The restaurant Pranzo in La Scuola Grande is only open for lunch at 12 noon to 3 p.m., as it is both a restaurant and a school. There are also scheduled classes for unique cooking, wine and beer-tasting classes. Private class options are also available. From the seven restaurants, we were only able to try two of them, which were Birreria and La Pizza & La Pasta.
The first time we came, ninang Linda, her daughter, Sabrina, mom and I had early-evening dinner at Birreria, a rooftop brewery and restaurant. Together with fontanafredda barolo, we ordered the cheese platter consisting of ricotta fresca from Connecticut, a soft cheese made from cow’s milk with a mild taste; Parmigiano from Emilia Romagna, a region in Italy; Asiago fresco from Veneto, made from cow’s milk, semi-firm but mild taste; robiola bosina and gorgonzola dolce from Piemonte; and finally provolone mandarone and taleggio from Lombardia.
I liked the taleggio the most as it went very well with the hazelnut honey served with the cheeses. And since we could not make up our minds for the salumi, we ordered the platter good for two as well. It consisted of speck, smoked prosciutto from Alto-Adige in Northern Italy, sopressata or pork salame with garlic and black peppercorns, mortadella, a traditional cold cut from Emilia Romagna’s capital Bologna; cacciatorini, which ended up being my favorite from Piemonte, and coppa, Emilia Romagna-style pork shoulder.
To add to this, we also ordered shiitake fritti con salvia because it sounded interesting. It was deep-fried shiitake mushrooms in batter, which came out golden-brown and crispy. It was a bit salty so I ended up eating it with the hazelnut honey to balance the saltiness. Unfortunately, I did not have time to try the beers as we had already ordered wine. It would be good to save it for the next trip; I just hope we find time to go back soon.
Two days later we decided to go back to Eataly and have lunch. We decided to try La Pizza & La Pasta for a late lunch around 2 p.m. and still there was a wait list for 35 minutes. So don’t come in hungry ’cause by the time you get a table you’ll be starving. The 35-minute wait time was perfect for us because we were able to go around Eataly. I think you could leave both of us there for a day and we’d be totally entertained with all the action, food and people watching. By the time our table was ready, we already knew what we wanted to eat. We ordered a Genovese pizza with house-made basil pesto paté and mozzarella topped with diced prosciutto di parma and a tagliatelle al ragu di manzo, which was house-made pasta with braised short-rib ragu. Halfway through our meal, we decided to order another pasta because I was interested in what it looked like. The pasta was paccheri, which is a large tube pasta like rigatoni but bigger in diameter and firmer. I ordered the paccheri con sugo di mare containing shrimp, calamari, and scallops with tomato, garlic, white wine and parsley.
Eataly is an amazing concept that features Italian produce plus the fast-service (but not fast-food) come-on that suits the New York crowd. The downside is since each restaurant has its own section, if you’re eating with a group, you have to decide where you want to sit based on what you want to eat. In our case, after having the pizza and pasta lunch, we had to stand up for dessert and hop to the next counter for coffee. But then again, it’s very convenient if you just want to take out specific items on the menu.
MILLIE: Eataly is the brainchild of Oscar Farinetti, whose first and original 30,000 square-foot store opened in Turin, Italy, in 2007. Together with brothers Adam and Alex Saper and the B & B Hospitality Group, a major collaboration was formed to create the first Eataly USA in New York in 2010. Eataly has eight stores in Italy, including Milan and Rome and four stores in Japan.
Farinetti’s goal was to make premium Italian food readily available at reasonable prices to allow food enthusiasts to “shop, taste and learn.†Coincidentally, the Saper brothers wanted to share their Italian experience with Americans in support of Batali and Bastianich’s aim to promote “living life to the fullest. “ This unique partnership saw fruition and will soon open doors in Chicago this autumn.
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Eataly is located at 200 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10010. For more inquiries call 646-398-5102.
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