Am I weird? I must be weird! Does anyone else get excited about a market? I must say this isn’t just any market. It’s EATALY! I don’t mean to shout, but I must! When I first heard about Eataly I couldn’t wait to go see it for myself, which was the problem…I live all the way on the west coast and Eataly is in the beautiful flatiron district of Manhattan, on the east coast. Eataly is 50,000 sq. feet of pure foodie heaven!
You see, my love for italian markets started when I was just a little girl. My parent’s would make the drive to San Gabriel, California once a week to the only local italian market, Claro’s. Everyone knew our names, we were like family. My brother and I grew up there, running up and down the aisles, getting free cookies and sneaking cups of the free coffee they had out for the adults, little did we know our parents knew we had the coffee. Handsome and I have the same traditions with our children, my girls are 20 now, and sometimes still get a free cookie, not in San Gabriel but, in Tustin. If you do happen to drop into the Tustin, Claros; tell Richard, Mary says Hi.
Fast forward to my girls’ birthday, I planned a trip to New York for the 3 of us (I have twin daughters). Did I have ulterior motives? One will never know!
Now back to Eataly. Opening the door to Eataly for the first time; the smells, wonderful aromas of espresso grabbing you, pulling you in. Your eyes don’t know where to look first. Do I look at the desserts, or the cheeses, or the pastas?
Do I sit down with a cappuccino or a gelato and gather my thoughts? I wandered through in amazement, thinking of all the wonderful food I would like to try.
The restaurants…there are a total of 7, yes 7 sit down restaurants in Eataly, they are each located next to the area their ingredients come from. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at their rooftop restaurant Birreria. Birreria is the only restaurant not located inside the market, you take a elevator and then stairs to arrive at the spectacular open air, eat under the stars restaurant. Birreria brews its own cast ales. See what we ate and our experience here.
Around every marvelous corner you will find something you didn’t expect to see, like La Scuola Di Eataly. La Scuola’s Dean is the brilliant Lidia Bastianich. I remember watching countless hours of her cooking shows on PBS.
I can’t wait to visit again. It really is something you must see and experience in person. The aromas, sounds and sights all add to the incredible atmosphere.
The good news…I have heard rumors that the dream team collaborators of Eataly, New York; Oscar Farinetti, B&B Hospitality Group (Joe & Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batali) and Adam & Alex Saper are considering a downtown Los Angeles location. Fingers crossed, those of us on the west coast could be enamored with this incredible slice of italian market heaven!
200 5th Avenue
New York, NY
Linda Seablom
I love places like that too. I wish I was in your area I would so be there! Thanks for making me jealous. lol
Mary
Linda, it’s nice to know someone else loves Italian markets like I do! Thanks for sharing : }