Meet the key players behind Manhattan’s one-stop spot for Italian eats.
New York’s Eataly—a vast emporium dedicated to all things Italian and delicious—gathers a transatlantic all-star team of pizzaioli, gelato-makers, brewers, bakers, wine experts, pasta artisans, and a certain red-ponytailed chef you may have heard of. With seven restaurants and a marketplace selling everything from salumi and Sicilian amaro to kitchen tools and cookbooks, the 42,500-square-foot Flatiron District complex makes downtown’s Little Italy look a whole lot littler. Plus: There’s way better food.
Making a welcome return to the kitchen, the Iron Chef designed the menus for each of Eataly’s dining spots, which include a restaurant specializing in Italian meats, a wood-fired-pizza and pasta bar, a salumi and cheese counter, and even a vegetarian(!) place.
This New York–based restaurateur (Babbo, Del Posto, Lupa), winemaker, and Batali partner was instrumental in helping entrepreneur Oscar Farinetti—founder of the original Eataly, in Turin—to bring his concept stateside.
The Italian pastry chef’s fanciful creations, made with natural ingredients and minimally refined sugars, are the big draw at Eataly in Turin. Expect equally long lines in New York for his handcrafted gelato.
Eataly’s ace in the hole: a rooftop beer garden and brewery that unites Musso, pied piper of Italy’s craft-beer movement, with Calagione, head of Delaware’s great Dogfish Head Brewery. Pairing signature ales with Batali’s sausages and northern Italian barbecue—how can you lose?
Everyone’s favorite TV nonna—star of Lidia’s Italy on PBS—is Eataly’s dean of cultural and culinary education, helping to conceive a full slate of cooking classes, wine courses, chef demonstrations, and lectures on Italy and Italian cuisine.
A James Beard Award winner for his cooking at Manhattan’s Esca—the New York Times dubbed him “the fish whisperer”—Pasternack oversees the seafood restaurant and fish market.
The La Brea Bakery founder first teamed with Batali and Joe Bastianich at L.A.’s sensational Pizzeria and Osteria Mozza. She’s in charge of Eataly’s focaccia, so New Yorkers will finally get a taste of her bread.
