Eataly: Bringing an Italian Food Experience to You

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Immerse yourself in Italian culture and cuisine at one of the Eataly locations in the US. Here are the best culinary treasures at Eataly. 
Some Italian restaurants are so well decorated, serve authentic cuisine, and have waitstaff who play the part of an Italian local to make you feel you left the USA. At Eataly , customers are immersed in Italian culture and cuisine as few eateries can. You can find Eataly in eight locations throughout the USA.
My First Eataly Experience
I first tried the New York City Flatiron District location , which was love at first bite. We didn’t have reservations and skipped from one hostess station to another before ending up happily at the seafood restaurant, Le Verdure. The place was packed, and the energy of the room jazzed us. Bread, olive oil, mushroom gnocchi, and wine were a delicious blur as we enjoyed the experience.
Mushroom gnocchi at the NYC Flatiron location was fabulous. Photo by Kurt Jacobson
After our meal, we wandered the store and gawked at too many cheeses to comprehend. The olive oil and vinegar shelves were stacked with Italian imports I’d never heard of and wanted to try. There was a cappuccino counter, a gelato counter, dried and fresh pasta beyond anything I’d ever seen, and more. My head was spinning from a glass, maybe two glasses of wine, and the sheer amount of food ecstasy in one location. The only problem was how to get any of it home to Baltimore!
On subsequent trips to New York City, we always tried to fit Eataly into our dining plans. That says a lot when considering the good to great Italian restaurants in the City. In the ten years since that first taste of Eataly, my wife and I have dined at the Dallas location three times and the New York Flatiron location three times. All of those visits were memorable.
Please Come to Boston
Recently, I tagged along to my wife’s annual professional meeting in Boston . As usual, we researched the dining choices near our hotel, the Marriott Copley Place, and saw Eataly was a mere ten-minute walk away. Since I had little planned in Boston, I decided to dive deep into Eataly Boston and check out as many products, food counters, and restaurants as possible.
The mall entrance to Eataly Boston brings you to the grab-and-go sandwich counter. Photo by Kurt Jacobson
Dining at Eataly in Boston
We made reservations for Terra, Eataly’s upscale restaurant, on our second night in Boston. My wife met me upstairs at Terra, and the real fun began. The garden salad with wide-cut slices of pecorino cheese was delicious. We also ordered the house-made bread with olive oil because a table near us had it, and the bread looked beautiful. A skewered grilled lamb appetizer on rustic bread had eye appeal and tasted great. I could smell the rosemary wafting off the lamb as the plate landed before me. We paired an Ares Pecorino white wine by Ciavolich and Le Creete Lugana with bread and small plates for a perfect match.
On our last night in Boston, we ate at Eataly’s restaurant La Pizza & La Pasta. We had pappardelle al ragu funghi, a mushroom pasta that wowed us. I enjoyed watching the pizza cooks tending the twin ovens under the Rossopomodoro sign and had to order a pizza. The margarita pizza was as good as the one we had in Naples and made for a great meal.
Eataly Boston pizza cooks working the twin oven. Photo by Kurt Jacobson
Shopping at Eataly
The next day, I explored the Eataly stores, starting with the cheesemonger, Dimitris, who was happy to fork over several tastes of their vast selection. Dimitris told me, “We have over 250 kinds of cheese from Italy and beyond.” I tasted the Guffanti Pecorino, Jasper Hill Alph Tolman, and a 12-month-aged Parmigiano-Reggiano and planned on picking these winners up on our last day in town.
The cheese department at Eataly has an abundance of excellent cheese. Photo by Kurt Jacobson
I had seen the sweets and chocolate counter at the NYC Flatiron Eataly but had yet to try their wares. At the Boston location, I had time to buy a few chocolates and take them to my hotel room for a taste test. I saw chocolate bars, individually wrapped premium chocolates, and more temptations. I settled on a couple of bite-sized premium chocolates that were over-the-top delicious. These treats were spendy at $40+ per pound, but on the last day in Boston, I bought just short of a pound to take home and was glad I did.
These amazing chocolates made it home after several mysteriously disappeared en route. Photo by Kurt Jacobson
Italian Olive Oil
As a trained chef, I love quality ingredients to cook with at home. At Eataly in Boston, I was happy to have the time to take a close look at the olive oil section. I spied several bottles of Ligurian olive oil and remembered watching Samin Nosrat’s show on fat as part of her Salt Fat Acid Heat Netflix series. In that episode, Samin is in Liguria, Italy, and interviews a focaccia baker who extols the virtues of Ligurian olive oil.
Eataly was a great place to buy a bottle of this prized olive oil, and I chose the Olio Extra Virgine Di Oliva to take home. Packing such a product in one’s baggage for a flight home can be risky, but my treasure made it safely thanks to bubble wrap and a clothing cocoon. The olive oil was delicious, smooth, mild, a bit spicy, and almost drinkable.
The olive oil section at Eataly Boston was well stocked. Photo by Kurt Jacobson
This olive oil was so good it brought back memories of Ostuni, Italy. We spent five glorious days in Ostuni sampling the wine, food, and olive oil. It was one of the most enjoyable European vacations ever. Just a taste of this Ligurian olive oil transported me back to Italy. That’s the power Eataly has to bring back food memories.
Other parts of Eataly’s shopping areas I like are the pasta, seafood, butcher, and grocery sections. The variety of exceptional quality foods in each section is impressive, and I love to peruse their wares to get ideas of what to cook at home.
Wine Time
With three days to enjoy visiting Eataly in Boston, I made a point to check out Eataly Vino, the wine shop. I met George, an older gentleman working the wine shop who knew the wines exceptionally well. I was looking for my favorite Italian varietals like arneis, pecorino, fiano, and gavi. With George’s help, I could find all four but could only bring one home and chose the arneis. If I had an Eataly store close to home, I would visit often just for the wine and cheese!
I enjoyed tasting wines at Eataly’s wine bar. Photo by Kurt Jacobson
Wine is available to drink on-site at the restaurants and their wine bar. I stopped by La Piazza, Eataly’s wine bar, for a pre-dinner glass. This intimate wine counter was relaxing, with eleven reds, six whites, two oranges, and six sparkling wines by the glass. I tried the two orange wines but settled on the Kerner, a white wine from the Alto Adige region that was off-dry and perfect. The wine bar also serves cheese and charcuterie boards and specialty plates. I found La Piazza a perfect place to explore the wine selection while waiting for my wife to join me for dinner at Terra.
A stop at the Gelato counter is an excellent way to end your visit to Eataly. Photo by Kurt Jacobson
Last Bite
They post their Il Manifesto Di Eataly somewhere conspicuous in every Eataly location. Of the ten statements in the manifesto, I like the last one best. It states, “Our goal is to have you as a customer for a lifetime.” It goes further, but I can tell you they have me as a customer for a lifetime. I hope you can spend a couple of hours at one of Eataly’s locations. Then you, too, will keep coming back as I and many others do for an immersive Italian culinary experience. We invite you to explore more about things to do in Massachusetts on  Wander With Wonder and check out more of our favorite restaurants around the world or across the street.
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Eataly: Bringing an Italian Food Experience to You
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