For all of you who think you should’ve been born Italian, get your butt on a plane and head straight for Eataly. Do not collect $200.
It’s like everything in the world packed into a square block and made accessible. Wonderful!
Thankfully it’s conveniently located several hundreds of miles away because otherwise my life savings would have been gone by now. But, I do now know what heaven looks like: a huge Italian grocery store and restaurant all packed into one and offering anything and everything I would ever want.
These people must want to be Italian, too. Or they were just enjoying dinner like we were (this was night no. 1, by the way).
Charcuterie and cheese plate:
Side note: the cheese on the end on the left side was this UNBELIEVABLE ricotta. That + honey + bread = cake, pretty much. So, so good.
Crostini (left to right: golden beet, salmon, ??? and broccoli rabe):
Pardon the blur on the beets, please!
Quick note on Eataly: Unlike most restaurants where you sit down and order whatever you would like to eat, Eataly offers different “stations.” It’s sort of like a huge food court that makes gourmet food. The crostini and charcuterie/cheese were from La Piazza, a stand up food and drink area. They also have a “pesce,” “verdure,” “pizza e pasta, “birreria” and “dolci” sections.
Naturally, we tried to hit up more than one of these sections at each of our visits, which, to say the least, is actually quite difficult when there are only two of you.
In addition, they have their “grocery” section strewn all over the restaurant/store — a beautiful case of handmade pastas, different breads, fish, meat, etc. etc. You name it, they probably have it!
Andiamo alla pasta!
I pansotti: handmade “pansotti” (essentially ravioli) with this brown butter, sage, lemon and pistachio sauce. whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.
Not many foods make my mother almost faint. This did.
Night #2
The best part of being on vacation is overindulgence can always be filed under “when’s the next time we’re going to be here? Why not?”
This is also why we went back to Eataly. Too good to not go back. But this time, we brought a friend along to help us overeat and allow us to order more food (no, it was for the company, I swear!).
Olives:
Hand-rolled mozzarella:
“French fries of the Sea” (I honestly can’t remember what fish these were…):
Razor clam ceviche (on the half shell!):
aaaaaand finally, the Montauk Squid, which, if you can’t tell, has actually been put back together as we got a little over-zealous once food came out. Woops!
And of course we had gelato after dinner, but I didn’t snap any pics of that unforch. Salted caramel and pistachio were both unreal. Yum yum yum.
Just a heads up for everyone out there: My last meal? Eataly, please.
