Eataly NYC

Whenever I come home to New York, I have the tradition of making a pilgrimage to St. Patrick's Cathedral. At Christmas time I always combine this trip with a stop at Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree and some other stops for shopping and sightseeing.

I particularly enjoy St. Patrick's when it is decorated for Christmas, and the organist and cantor are still doing Christmas hymns at the daily Masses . . . 

After a few prayers at the creche . . .

. . . I made my way to the tree at Rockefeller Center, and also stopped in the LEGO store!

After spending the mid-morning in midtown, I made my way downtown into the shadows of the famous Flatiron Building . . .

. . . where Mario Batali and company have established Eataly - an entire Italian food market under one roof.  Eataly sells wine and beer, meats and cheeses, breads and sweets, coffee, fresh fish and produce, fresh and dried pasta, cook books and housewares. In other words, almost everything touching upon the culinary life of Italy. The variety is astonishing and the quality is also very high. The displays are absolutely gorgeous and the staff seemed knowledgeable - and busy, given the number of patrons.

One of Eatlay's mottos is, we cook what we sell and sell what we cook.  So throughout the establishment, the various marketplaces are set up not only for retail but for dining as well. I sat in the pizza and pasta section, and was happy to have a seat right at the kitchen counter.

I was dining at the latter end of the weekday lunch rush and things were definitely hopping. I enjoyed my beer as I watched everyone else work.

My first course was a fabulous winter salad of fennel, celery root, cauliflower and Asian pear. I absolutely love fennel, and it was perfectly paired with the sweetness of the Asian pear. If I had nothing else I would have left happy.

But of course I also had pasta! I ordered the pasta al forno with ragu, and it too was very good.

On the way out, I took another swing through the various marketplaces and had a small piece of tiramisu (sorry, no picture . . . there was no room at the very small pastry counter so I had to eat on the move!). It was probably in the top five tiramisu I have ever had.

There's been a good deal of buzz surrounding Eataly and to my mind it basically lived up to the hype.

I can't say if I would make it my regular market if I lived nearby . . . things seemed a little expensive, but I might be unused to NY prices these days. Also, I wonder how many of the things being sold there could also be found at other nearby markets. New York obviously has many excellent bakeries, butchers and fishmongers - and innumerable establishments for Italian specialty foods. Eataly might be a greater resource in smaller or less diverse cities (though those places might also have less interest in such a store).

And finally, although the crowds were reasonable when I was visiting, they were still too much for the location to handle. It was difficult to find a place at the counters and tables to sample the provisions - and if I hadn't been solo, it would have been impossible. I can only imagine what the place is like at peak hours and on weekends.

At the same time, as I have already noted the quality of the food was excellent - and the staff was very friendly. Like Disney World for food, you might not go every day, and you might have to fight the crowds, but it's definitely a lot of fun!