Eataly’s Grand Opening

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:

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

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):

Lots of different jams and preserves from Italy:

And tons of cookies, too:

The espresso bar/coffee bar was buzzing:

And people were lining up for Italian chocolates and pastries:

The longest line (by far) was for gelato:

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

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

And a huge selection of olives and olive oils:

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

Lots of fresh bread:

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

A large section for fresh fish/shellfish/seafood:

Fresh shark:

Lots of cookbooks:

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

An Italian ATM in the store:

And the 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!