Eataly

Take a trip with me to Italy…excuse me, I mean EATaly in the heart of Manhattan. As you know Jessica and I blog to enjoy and support local businesses in our surrounding NEPA area, however I am taking a hall pass (or EZpass…haha) to NYC and am going to share with all of you my experience at this fantastic Italian market.

While in NYC yesterday my mom and I decided to eat dinner at Eataly. My mother, born in Sicily, naturally loves Italian food and clean, fresh flavors. We experienced a food dream that gave me a different appreciation for the diversity of Italian cuisine and brought mom back to her roots. After a cab drive from hell we entered our Italian heaven and were immediately immersed in parmiagiano reggiano, pizza, pasta, pancetta, fish, basil, tomatoes, gelato, biscotti, and chocolate. I would describe Eataly as an authentic Italian market that stays true to traditional Italian cuisine in their 5 different eateries and allows for customers to purchase traditional grocery items such as pasta, fruit, vegetables, cheese, fresh/cured meats, fish, oil, vinegar, herbs, baked goods, and other items diehard Italians just “couldn’t live without.”

No one could experience ALL Eataly has to offer in one visit, but mom and I tried to soak in as much as we could by spreading our dinner out amongst 2 of the 5 eateries as well as a special stop at the gelato stand for dessert. First we ate at “Il Pesce,” or The Fish. I had a bowl of “zuppa de pesce,” fish soup with spicy tomato crostini, and mom ordered “crudo di congole,” stuffed clams, basically. Both our dishes were outstanding. The fish tasted incredibly fresh. Fresh fish tastes so clean, and pure. Ah, delicious. The couple next to us ordered a whole fish each, which also looked outstanding. But, instead of a whole fish, mom and I continued our food crawl and had to visit a second eatery “La pizza & pasta,” where we shared a 10” pizza called La Verace TSG.

La Verace had tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella, parmigiano reggiano, imported olive oil from Sorrento, and fresh basil leaves. This pizza had a very thin crust, and tasted like burned toast with the texture of perfectly cooked dough. Ok, that doesn’t sound terribly appetizing but it tasted great. Quick cooking in high heat allows the dough to stay soft whereas the outside achieves a charred flavor. The picture doesn’t give the favor justice (thank you iPhone). Out of the 5 eateries La pizza & pasta was the busiest! Naturally, this is America, pizza/pasta hungry hungry hippos. Plus, this is probably the most affordable.

Our waiter at La pizza & pasta was straight from Sicily. After he and mom had a little Italian conversation I learned (in English) that he moved to Brooklyn to work for Eataly for one year. So, as my mom said…"they import the olive oil…AND the people!” Authentic, thick Italian accent absolutely made me feel one step closer to Italy. So, kudos to you, Eataly…you’ve thought of everything.

Okay, gelato time. While waiting on line deciding what flavor to order I heard mom say, “ah, they have brioche jean!” These brioche looked like dinner rolls to me, but “brioche” is a sweet egg bread that is traditionally served with gelato or sorbet inside. So gelato on a brioche is like our ice cream cone here in America. Who would have known? Mom ordered pistachio gelato and enjoyed it in her brioche (which I tired and was delicious!) and I decided on lemon sorbet. Very nice ending to our meal. I posed a picture of other desserts you could enjoy.

After we ate, we shopped. Foccocha bread, olive bread, homemade ravioli, Lidia Bastianich’s sauce, Italian candies, chocolate, and porchetta for my brother Louis. A trip to Eataly is a gift that keeps on giving with the ability to enjoy special items that are difficult to find elsewhere. I really wanted to buy this t-shirt that says, “you are what you EATaly." Guess how much it was…$58. For a t-shirt. That I would wear to the supermarket. No thanks.

I made the spinach and ricotta ravioli with Lidia’s sauce for dinner tonight. So delicious!

When we visit Eataly again, I think we’d love to try the vegetarian eatery, and the wine/cheese bar, buy more foccochia and fresh pasta…but most of all just enjoy a little Italian escape from mom’s childhood, to my love for this culture and food.

Mom and I are making our next stop back in PA on Sunday to “An Evening of wine and food” at the Scranton Cultural Center, where we’ll try foods from all our local restaurants in Scranton. Looking forward to sharing our favorites with all of you!