Eataly

43 East Ohio Street
Chicago, Illinois

This is Eataly and an experience not to be missed! Owned by Mario Batali, Oscar Farinetti, Joe and Lidia Bastianich, Adam and Alex Saper, Eataly is an extravaganza,covering 62,000 square feet, on two floors, that is EVERYTHING Italian.

In January 2007, Italian businessman Oscar Farinetti converted a closed vermouth factory in Turin into the first location of Eataly. September 2010, Eataly opened in New York near Madison Square park, with a partnership that included Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich and her son Joe Bastianich, and brothers Adam and Alex Saper. The chain has additional locations in Italy, Japan, Dubai and Turkey.  The Chicago store opened in December 2013.

The Chicago store is open seven days a week, and is so very much more than just a shopping experience.

 There are several places with tables and chairs to grab a bite to eat.  There is La Pizza and La Pasta serving Rossopomodoro Pizza as well as house made pasta. Rossopomodoro is a branch of an Italian chain that has locations all over Italy, as well as, in London, Buenos Aires, Reykjavik, Tokyo, and Naples, Florida.

We chose to sit at the Il Pesce bar, but you can sit at Le Verdure, or La Piazza.  They each have a special chalk board with menu items, that you can get at each of these three bars, or you can go for the specialty of the bar itself.  There were fresh oysters at Il Pesce, and the food at each of the other spots looked fabulous as well.

The special was a three bruschetta plate, and each are truly wonderful.

We moved onto La Carne, which is a nice quiet corner of the second floor with windows out onto the world, white cloth napkins and wonderful service.  I can’t rave enough about everything we dined on.

There are two spots to grab coffee.  On the first floor is Gran Bar Lavazza and on the second is Caffe Vergnano. 

There is not only a large selection of wine for sale, you can taste wine at the Vino Libero that also includes tastings of salumi and verdure.

Yes, they have their own on-site craft brewery with a dining area and of course, beer.

You can buy sweets galore from Italy or head over to the pastry, or gelato areas on the first floor.

If you simply want sandwiches there is La Rosticceria with a selection of hand carved sandwiches, and rotisserie chicken available from 11:30 to 5:00.

Then there is the housewares department, you could spend thousands of hours, (and dollars) happily filling your shopping cart with items from all over and for every wild and imaginable use.

You know they are going to have Mario Batali’s cookware,

but you will also find other great names as well.

There is a great bookstore.  Yes there are the ubiquitous cook books, but there are also some nice travel books as well.

You must appreciate a spot that puts its guest services desk smack in the middle of the first floor.

Oh, did I fail to mention they have a Nutella Bar?

We spent several hours in Eataly, and I warn you that you will too.  So when you are in Chicago, put it on your MUST DO list, and plan on coffee and pastries, maybe just some mezes/tapas/enotheche, or a full meal, but give yourself lots of time to explore.

My only down thing were the restrooms, it was Father’s Day around noon and they were really filthy.

That, however, should not keep you from making sure you put it on your Chicago Trip Things to Do!