Eataly is Italian, Which Explains A Lot

There's been a lot of buzz about Eataly Chicago's recent opening - the heavy anticipation leading up to the Mecca of Italian gastronomy had set the bar high, and Chicago expected Eataly to deliver. But just what exactly did they expect? I've been reading countless reviews (several of them with a bitter tone) over the past few days, and it leaves me wondering if some people have missed the point.

(angels singing)

Eataly is Italy, not Mariano's. If you read the manifesto of the store, there is no place that says you are going to find the best deals or that you’re going to be able to get your Christmas baking materials in their baking section (which they don’t have…). The point of the store, as is pretty clearly expressed in this manifesto, is educating the population and creating a community around high quality Italian food. Anyone who has visited a place where artisan cheese is being made or wild boar is being hunted and slaughtered (or, really, anyone who has done their research on what it takes to get that food to the store or your table), knows that prices reflect the work that the people put into it. This is actually a well-known and accepted fact in other countries; just consider that France, Italy, and Japan - all known for their exquisite cuisines - spend anywhere from 13-15% of their yearly income on food, while the US is lagging at 7%. Quality and price are directly correlated - when I buy an heirloom cherry tomato from the Green City Market for $4.00/lb it tastes like a tomato. When I buy it from Jewel for $1.99/lb, it tastes like water (but at least red-colored water).

No Name (not) Barolo - one of my favorite wines with a story

All this is not to say that the pricing at Eataly is always fair. I’ve been recently working on wine Tasca, Ferrari and Allegrini, and wanted to use the Eataly wine store, completely dedicated to Italian wine, for a gift basket. When pricing the basket, we noticed bottles such as Allegrini's Palazzo della Torre selling for significantly more than it’s sold around the corner at Binny’s. Same went for Antinori’s Villa Antinori. But after mentioning this to the department, I was told that there are plans to work on price matching in the very near future. Hopefully this is the case, but for now I’ll save the common wines for Binny’s and the special ones that I can only get at Eataly (like Borgogno & Figli’s No Name, a wine intended to be Barolo made in a cask that the DOCG commission did not approve of, and sold in protest as No Name).

Caolan Sleeper, the Project
Manager of Eataly Chicago
(who loves her job and brought
you that wonderful store you're
enjoying today)

Also, Eataly as a whole is not about being the fastest sandwich or pizza maker in Chicago during your 30-minute lunch break, although they do try their best to satisfy their impatient clients. Yes, the lines have been long and the staff does seem like there is a very steep learning curve that they seem to be climbing. But once it gets up and running, I don’t want to be in and out of one of their eight restaurants. My experience in Italy has taught me patience in two ways – one being that type of patience when you’re at the Rome airport lost luggage window and the only person working decides to take 3 smoke breaks of 10 minutes each before you move 5 feet in the line – and the second being that patience that you must have for a true Italian ragù (all day) or authentic pizza (you’ve got to plan days in advance for the dough’s rise time of 8-36 hours). I’ll wait for my food, thank you, so that I know that it’s good.

Eataly is Italian, which means first and foremost it’s also empathetic. Italians break rules because they see the person over the rule or law, and in this case, their people over the $$$. After the employees worked day and night to open the store, they deserved a break - and the empathy of the Eatalian gave them a day off on Monday. Let the people be people – sleep in, spend a day with their families, and recharge from all of the hard work they put into the opening last week. From what I can see, it didn't shrink in fear of it's opening, it gave the people who deserved it a break! If only all corporations saw its employees as living breathing entities with needs.

Oscar Farinetti-  the mastermind behind the
concept - is 100% Italian

Eataly is Italian, which means it’s not perfect, but it is (like all things Italian) passionate. Read the signs, talk to any of their employees (a close friend of mine was very involved in the opening) and they are working 24/7 not because they have to but because they want to  - they love their job. It’s a store that’s built for people who are interested in sharing the learning experience and the passion for authentic Italian food and wine. Yes, it does have several aspects of the store that should and hopefully will be improved. But it is what it said it would be  - an authentic physical homage to the world of Italian gastronomical culture.