Eataly: Ancora non é arrivato

The "Summer 2010" sign outside of the highly anticipated NYC branch of Eataly has been taunting us all for a while. But since I work on that very same block, and pass by that sign roughly four times a day, that sign has been positively mocking me all summer. When is "summer", exactly, if not the middle of August? Do they mean the store will open in the Italian Summer, in the same way that I sometimes take a French Lunch Hour? 

If you dont know, Eataly is an incredibly comprehensive, over-the-top, gourmet italian take on a supermarket (think: prosciutto bars and vegetable butchers) located in Torino. The NYC branch is a collaboration between Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali (when are those two going to get married?), and has generated more buzz than a sale on orange Crocs in a group of line cooks. 

Typical.

Anyway, as the summer months have rolled by, I have had the opportunity to work on my Italian cursing quite a bit as the opening has been delayed again and again. By now I can stand outside those still-shuttered doors and hurl such creative obscenities at the slow-moving, espresso-sipping workmen inside that it would make a Neopolitain sailor blush.


But, alas! What's this? The word is out that Eataly is set to open on August 31st, which, technically, is still Summer 2010 (porco dio!). Needless to say, I hustled over there on my french lunch hour to check out the developments. 


Amazingly enough, the doors were open, the floor was bustling with construction workers, and an unassuming americana like me was able to waltz right in by muttering que cazzo! over and over to myself and gesturing effusively to no one.


I have to say... this place is going to be incredible. The space itself is so dramatic, not to mention the tantalizing signs for all kinds of specialty produce, wines, and meats. I managed to snap a few pictures of what is to come before I got into a very heated argument with a cheesemonger over the verity of pecorino made outside of Pienza. With a hearty vaffanculo! I was shown the door.

Eh... scusi... Can I get a zucchini tenderloin?

This looks like a tasting/wine bar being set up. I went in for a closer look, but thought that bald head might be Bastianich himself, so I got all flustered and hid behind a leg of prosciutto.

Ok, not a great picture, but each of these stalls was for a different type of specialty vegetable. Mi piace.