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Eat & Drink

Eataly Downtown: Touring the second NYC location of the Italian food hall

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  • The theme of Eataly Downtown is bread. Adam Saper and Joe Bastianich explained why.

    “Bread is the center of the table,” said Saper. “The diversity — every country has their bread.”

    Bastianich agreed bread brings people together. When brainstorming Eataly Downtown, he said, they asked themselves what they wanted to “communicate about [their location] at Ground Zero.”

    “You get into some pretty heavy things. Peace, cultural differences, ethnicity … Then we thought, well, what is the one — without having to be so didactic and talk about things like world peace — the concept of bread and the commonality of bread as a global food item was like the most natural thing,” he said. “Every culture in the world shares bread, or some form of bread. Symbolically it says so much about what this place is really about.”

    All breads are hand-rolled in house and the baking program is led by Fulvio Marino, who leads bakery operations at Eataly locations across the globe. The house bread is the pane Mediterraneo, made with a 35-year-old mother yeast brought to NYC from Italy in 2010 for the opening of Eataly Flatiron. It is made with two types of whole grain flour and seven different seeds. They are: sunflower, flax, millet, sesame, poppy, pumpkin and spelt.

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    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • Eataly is devoted to Italian food, but at Eataly Downtown, the partners are embracing the breads of the world.

    “We want to use bread as an excuse to talk about other people’s cultures,” said Nicola Farinetti, CEO of Eataly USA in a statement.

    To that end, Eataly will partner with a special New York City bakery each month to showcase some of its authentic breads. Eataly will first partner with Kossar’s; in September, the iconic New York company will bring its bagels to the World Trade Center.

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    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • Pictured is one of four dining areas where guests can drink wine or espresso and eat pasta, pizza or a variety of other Italian dishes.
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • In addition to shopping and restaurant areas, there is also a wine bar.
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • An important aspect of Eataly is showing customers what they are eating, and a big part of that is transparency and bringing guests in on what they will be consuming. You can watch chefs making pasta by hand, for example.
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • At Eataly, guests can purchase either fresh pasta made in-house (pictured) or dried pasta from the producer Gragnano in Italy, which is known for its deep flavor and creamy consistency.
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • Of course there is pizza. The pizza at Rossopomodoro is made in the Neapolitan style in a 900-degree wood burning oven.
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • Each pie takes 90 seconds to cook in these ovens.
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • Eataly's mobile street food cart Ape (pronounced ahh-pay) is stationed in the middle of La Piazza, a restaurant area in Eataly Downtown that overlooks the World Trade Center Memorial site. Three different types of prosciutto are continuously sliced at this cart.
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • A completely new concept at Eataly is Foodiversita, a free
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • What is an Italian marketplace without pastries? Try the tiramisu or really any sweet cake or cookie at the pastry counter, led by head pastry chef Katia Delogu.
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • The produce department at Eataly Downtown is one of the first areas of the market to greet guests. Much of the fruits and vegetables are seasonal and local.
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • The fishmonger counter in the market at Eataly Downtown features sustainably sourced and, where possible, local fish. The fish counter is committed to tracking the traceability of each fish, said partner Alex Saper (brother to Adam).
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • Olives, caviar and other prepared foods based on the recipes of partners Joe Bastianich, Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batali are sold at this counter in the market.
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • The butcher counter is stocked with cuts from animals raised on sustainable farms, according to the butcher Pat LaFrieda, who is the supplier for Eataly Downtown.
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • Cured meats and over 1,000 types of cheese from Italy and America can be found here.
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • Eataly Downtown opens at 7 a.m. and will be serving sit-down breakfast as well as more casual bites from breakfast sandwiches to pastries. And espresso and coffee, of course.
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • New Yorkers love their salad, and Eataly knows it. Le Insalata is the first salad bar to ever open in an Eataly.
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • Another new concept for Eataly is La Piadina, an eatery devoted to the Italian street food piadina, or grilled flatbread.
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral
  • The upscale dining restaurant inside Eataly Downtown, Osteria Della Pace is inspired by Southern Italian cooking. Chef Riccardo Orfino is making a three-tomato pasta pomodoro, pictured, that Alex Saper says will soon be considered
    Photo Credit: Georgia Kral

The Italian food marketplace and eatery Eataly opened its second New York City location. Located in World Trade Center 4, Eataly Downtown is a 40,000-square-foot place to shop, eat, drink and learn about Italian food and culture.

Eataly Flatiron was one of the first food halls to open in New York City. While the term food hall may not fully encompass what makes Eataly Eataly, it is flattering when other food halls refer to Eataly as an inspiration, partner Adam Saper said.

“Eataly Flatiron was groundbreaking because it was one of those things that changed how New Yorkers behaved. Eataly New York became a piazza in New York in the true Italian sense of the word because it’s all walks of life coming together,” said partner Joe Bastianich. “I think that that kind of egalitarianism that Eataly has, that’s the essence of what everyone is trying to recreate … Different walks of people, different cultures, different socio-economic backgrounds, come together and share an experience.”

Eataly Downtown opened on Aug. 11. Let’s take a look around.

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