Eataly’s Grand Opening

By grace.g.yang ยท August 31, 2010
Under: Chelsea,Desserts,Dinner,Drinks,Italian,My Life

Today after work, I headed to Mario Batali’s newest project, Eataly. The restaurant/coffee shop/grocery store is GIGANTIC and was absolutely packed with people (in fact it was a “trending” topic on foursquare with 81 people checked in when I visited!) Here are some pictures from the grand opening – I’m glad my office is so close because it looks like a great place for food!

When you first enter, there are fresh vegetables, fruits, and lots of different stands with cheese and prosciutto. When I arrived around 8:30, the mozzarella stand was already sold out for the day (and they opened at 4pm!) Luckily, they had lots of Parmesan and other cheeses:

Eataly cheese

They also have prosciutto you can purchase by the pound (freshly cut or packaged):

Eataly prosiutto 2

There are also lots of other deli meats you can buy pre-packaged (after you purchase the meats, you can find a spot to stand/sit, although it was absolutely packed when I visited):

Eataly prosciutto

Lots of different jams and preserves from Italy:

Eataly spreads

And tons of cookies, too:

Eataly cookies

The espresso bar/coffee bar was buzzing:

Eataly cofee

And people were lining up for Italian chocolates and pastries:

Eataly vendor

The longest line (by far) was for gelato:

Eataly gelato

But a close second was the area where you could sit down and order food (pasta and pizza):

Eataly restaurant

Eataly has every type of antipasti you could ever think of:

Eataly spreads

And a huge selection of olives and olive oils:

Eataly olive oils

I think there were about 3 aisles filled with different types of pasta (they were all around the $3 range):

Eataly pasta

Lots of fresh bread:

Eataly bread 2

Eataly bread

Different types of meat (they work with Pat LaFreida, too):

Eataly butcher2

Eataly butcher

A large section for fresh fish/shellfish/seafood:

Eataly fish monger

Fresh shark:

Eataly fish monger 2

Lots of cookbooks:

Eataly books

Beers and other drinks (right next to the bathroom):

Eataly beers

An Italian ATM in the store:

Eataly ATM

And the checkout:

Eataly checkout

Eataly was absolutely packed and I’m sure it will be for quite some time – Mario Batali was at the space taking pictures with fans and looked VERY happy. I’m excited to try the food once the lines aren’t so long but it seemed like everyone was enjoying their food (there’s also a large area with fresh pastas that you can purchase to take home that looked delicious). The prices for groceries didn’t seem too extreme (especially if you shop anywhere like Citarella or Gristedes) but nothing was cheap, either. The thing that surprised me the most about Eataly was just how many people were Italian/spoke Italian – where have these people been hiding?! I seriously felt like I was in Italy because lots of the employees spoke Italian AND tons of the people browsing were also speaking Italian. I’m really excited to see how Eataly does!

Eataly on Urbanspoon

Reader Comments

Great job capturing these photos. Now, I really want to pay them a visit. Maybe getting some fresh pasta, meat and EVOO?!

#1 
Written By Maria on September 4th, 2010 @ 1:23 am

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