If you walk around Manhattan, and we are sure the outer boroughs as well, you will find Italian everywhere. Delis, food stores and restaurants, selling or serving Italian fare of every kind and region are everywhere. Chelsea is well know for its great Italian restaurants. We have eaten a two excellent ones. Eolo, a Sicilian style restaurant on 7th Ave at the end of our block was the first place we ate when we arrived in New York. Le Zie is a block down and is a Tuscan style eatery where we have eaten twice. Food is excellent and the wine lists go on for pages. There are many more in the neighbourhood, up and down 7th Avenue and over on 8th, no matter where you go, Italian food is everywhere.

Given the predominance of the Italian heritage here it is no wonder there are entrepreneurs who have taken the market to places you would probably only see in New York. Enter Eataly at 5th Avenue and 23rd in the Flatiron District, across from Madison Square Park. Eataly is a one-of-a-kind experience you should not miss if you are in New York and one you will never forget. This 50,000 square foot “store” is part restaurant, part grocery store, part street fair, and part eating circus. They have everything Italian for you and for your kitchen and to top it off they have a cooking school that never seems to stop turning out great food and a wine shop selling only Italian wines.

The operation is the brainchild of Mario Batali, a very well known New York chef and Oscar Farinetti who lives in Turin, Italy. The space is set out to recreate the an Italian country fair accommodating hundreds of people shopping, grazing, browsing, drinking and enjoying every minute.

The complex includes: 7 restaurants – yes 7 – a fishmonger, butcher, patisserie, bakery, chocolate bar, espresso bar, wine store, cheese store – we watched them making mozzarella cheese – produce stand, including a vegetable butcher who will help prepare vegetarian purchases in the most attractive manner – a gelati stand, a kitchenware section and more.

Located throughout the store and blended with the grocery areas, are the seven very different eateries which are themed around food types. Given that all the signage is in Italian, it is good to have a guide that they provide at the door for the newbies. There is La Piazza, where you can stand at cocktail type tables and enjoy cheeses and Italian sausage and prosciutto; Manzo which is devoted to meat, La Pizza, La Pasta, Il Pesce, serving every kind of fish you can imagine, Le Verdure for vegetarians, and Pranzo featuring regional lunch specials. Fifteen stories above the store is La Birreria a rooftop restaurant and brewery with a retractable roof for those great New York days and evenings. Each restaurant has its own kitchen open to the store where you can watch the food being prepared from beautiful marble counters or you can enjoy your meal at table areas unique to each restaurant.

This is an incredible place to visit, shop and to eat. New Yorkers and tourists flock here from early in the morning until late at night. If you choose, you can get a glass of wine which you are free to carry around the store while you shop or choose a restaurant. At the end of your meal, the dessert and espresso bar serves traditional Italian treats and, of course, Lavazza coffee.

We ate at the vegetarian restaurant last evening. The bread and olive oil was excellent and the bottle of wine was a great compliment to Penny’s grilled vegetables and my potato and vegetable cake and greens with anchovies. As you can see from the pictures, the place was buzzing. We finished off the night with a cappuccino and a couple of cakes.

Only in New York can they take the love of good Italian food and turn it into one of the most unique eating experiences in the City.