Eataly was everything you could possibly imagine and more, I am so excited L.A. finally has one! The first (and only) time I had gone to an Eataly before was when I was in Turin, Italy. I immediately fell in love with the restaurant/grocery store combination and the wonderful, fresh food served at the restaurant.

For those of you that don’t know, Eataly is a recreation of an Italian marketplace, with individual food vendors and restaurants all in one place. Eataly has a cheese vendor, a meat vendor, a wine vendor, a gelato vendor, a place that sells espresso drinks, and a stand entirely dedicated to mozzarella! And the Eataly in L.A. also has 3 full service restaurants and cooking classes. The first Eataly is located in Italy, but the franchise has since expanded to the East Coast of the United States in places like Boston and New York. And as of November 3, 2017, Los Angeles can claim its very own Eataly!

Located in the Westfield Century City Mall, Eataly takes up two stories and 67,000 square feet. The first level holds the gelato, cannoli, an espresso counter, and the cooking classes in the back (which must be pre-booked and cost anywhere from $50 to $200). The gelato was phenomenal. As I’ve mentioned before, classic Italian gelato is made and stored in silver canisters, and that’s exactly how the gelato from Eataly came. I ordered my classic; pistachio and stracciatella (chocolate chip). The pistachio was the best I’ve had outside of Italy. It was creamy and nutty and I couldn’t get enough! The stracciatella was good, but not the best. It was a crumblier in texture than I like my gelato, but the flavor was great. I also tried the cannoli, which was also just okay for me. The espresso was strong and smooth. They had traditional drinks (cappuccino, espresso, latte) as well as a few I hadn’t heard of before, including one made of whipped cream and espresso!

Upstairs was where most of the food was! When you immediately walk up the stairs you are greeted with the large grocery store area. There is a stand for rosticceria (cooked meats), panini e ciabatte (bread), bianca la mozzarella (fresh mozzarella), salumi e formaggi (cheese and meats), pizza alla pala (pizza on a wooden paddle) and a pasticceria (pastry shop)! There is also rows of Italian food sold like a grocery store, with pasta and sauces as well as cookware. My favorite stop was definitely the salumi e formaggi stand! I stood there for about 20 minutes just sampling cheese and prosciutto based on the recommendation of the woman working at the counter. Everything was so delicious, and the woman who was helping me was very knowledgeable. The three restaurants are also on the second floor.

There are currently three restaurants at Eataly LA; La Piazza, La Pizza & La Pasta, and Il Pesce Cucina. La Piazza is a standing restaurant modelled after an Italian piazza (town square), serving more casual Italian street food. La Pizza & La Pasta is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. They serve fresh pizza and pasta with seasonal flavors. I ate at Il Pesce Cucina, which specializes in seafood. I ordered the zuppa di nonna Josephine and the tagliatelle con gamberi. The zuppa di nonna Josephine is a Manhattan-style clam chowder soup (tomato based) that is mostly clams. I love clams so I didn’t have a problem with that, but the soup is definitely about 80% clams. The tagliatelle con gamberi is a flat, long pasta with a fresh, tomato sauce with basil topped with shrimp. The pasta was cooked aldente and the sauce was light, fresh, and well-seasoned. I also had a delicious glass of prosecco, which is Italian sparkling wine.

Eataly has only been open for about 2 months in Los Angeles, so it’s definitely still very crowded. I went on a Saturday evening from around 6-9pm. There was definitely a crowd and a few lines, but it wasn’t too bad overall. Most of the food stands closed at around 8pm, the restaurants close at 10pm, and the gelato shop, the pastry shop, and the coffee shop are all open until 11pm. Eataly is located at the Westfield Century City Mall, so there is a fairly large (paid) parking structure that has convenient access to Eataly. I classified Eataly as a ‘thing to eat’ because the main draw for me is the food, but honestly, going to Eataly is an event and could easily also be categorized as a ‘thing to do.’ I am already counting down the days until I can go back to Eataly!

eataly.com

10250 Santa Monica Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA