Tuesday, September 21, 2010

My Current Obsession: EATALY

they make cheese on site, including Mozzarella burrata.

they import canned goods with darling designs such as these retro labels for tomatoes


The new big thing here is that Mario Batali and Lydia Bastianich opened up an Italian cuisine Disneyland/WalMart in the Flatiron and all the foodies plus tourists plus local non cooks but Italianophiles like me are flocking there like it's the culinary Promised Land. On a recent Saturday there were HUGE lines with a security guard at each door like it was the Roxy in 1990. Back in the day, I could get past the line and cross the red velvet rope with my gorgeous gay escort in tow but now....not even worth a try. I know the place is like an Italian simulacra for Americans/Culinary Disneyland/Foodie Wal-Mart but it's fantastic. I know the place is expensive and thus most of us can only rarely shop there, if at all. But as a lover of Italian style and food (and men, sigh) I enjoyed strolling through the shop. I walked out with imported pasta that although it was Buitoni was a type of spaghetti that looks different from any type I buy here but just like some I had in Mastorica with a duck ragu (ay ay ay so delicious), Mozzarella burrata, San Daniele prosciutto, olive oil bread, and some jarred pasta sauce with roasted eggplant, all delicious).