Eatly just opened up in Los Angeles early November of last year. For those who are unfamiliar with Eatly, its a large Italian marketplace, comprising a variety of restaurants, food, beverages, bakeries, and retail items. I first went to Eatly 3 years ago in New York City, it was my first time eating Neapolitan Pizza, and fresh made pasta. When I heard the news of Eatly coming to my hometown, I was ecstatic. I had some friends venture there on opening week, and they told me to avoid it like the plague. The word was that you basically stand elbow to elbow trying to navigate around, and have to dodge little munchkins that walk around aimlessly. So I decided to wait a few weeks for the hype to die down a bit.
MLK Day - My girlfriend and I had the day off so I figured this was the perfect time to go. She's also been on some kinda juice cleanse the week before so feeding her tons of carbohydrates and sugars seemed like the correct move.
Walking around you go through a market, everything from produce, to meats, cheeses and retail items.
I am a big fan of Prosciutto di Parma and they have tons of them just hanging out chillin'
Say Cheese :) I ended up buying some Parmigiano Reggiano. I have a nice bottle of wine at home I wanted to drink, so thought this was a good excuse to buy some cheese. You cube these bad boys up, and dip them in honey. Try it I am not crazy, you can thank me later.
I only bought a small block, but if you want to step up your cheese game here you go, one of these bad boys weigh about 90+ lbs (40+ kg).
I had a lady give me a dirty look when I took a panorama of this mountain of Cheese. Possibly because I stopped her entire family of 6 from crossing till I got the shot :)
I thought the darker potatoes from a distance were rocks. I was like, why the hell would they put rocks in a basket of potatoes? When I got close, i was like... Oh just kidding those aren't rocks :D
We finally venture to the restaurant in the back, and I look at my watch and its 4:00 PM, so we needed to kill an hour. By this time my girlfriend was getting Hangry. When she gets hangry bad things happen, so I needed to feed her so she doesn't round house kick somebody.
We walked around and saw this, she gravitated towards it immediately. I was actually looking around for other options when I realized she wasn't next to me anymore, she was already waiting in line.
So apparently this is Roman style pizza; Tomato sauce, Prosciutto with arugula grape tomatoes and goat cheese on top.
We shared a small middle slice, and the it was pretty good. I personally hate arugula, but goat cheese solves everything.
Alright its 5:00 PM and its show time! We go back to the spot and as we approach we see that there is no line. Woot woot jackpot. I should mention that my girlfriend has this magical power that once we arrive somewhere, there magically becomes a line after us. I found this to be true 70% of the time, all the time.
Menu - My tier 1 photography skills in action, some how didn't even get all of it in the shot.
We ordered a Prosciutto and pear for an appetizer. For entrees we got a classic Margherita Pizza (Tomato sauce, Mozzarella, Basil, circle or Olive Oil), the Tagliatele al Ragu (Braised Brisket Ragu with Parmiganio) and a nice bottle of wine. Don't judge us, it was 5 o'clock already.
Some bread with EVOO
The Wine - time to get lit. Just kidding, we are alcoholics we are unphased.
There is no better combination than salty and sweet. If there is, please let me know because I am unaware of a better tandem. I basically just wrapped a piece of Prosciutto around a pear. My girlfriend was using a fork and knife, but isn't this a finger food?
The classic Margherita Pizza - Named after the Queen of Italy, a Pizzaiolo from Naples made this in honor of the new Italian flag (Pizza colors = Italian flag) and named it after the Queen herself.
Tagliatelle al Ragu- Braised Brisket was so damn tender.
Same thing but with some grated Parm. I always love the classic "Tell me when to stop" I wanted him to keep going until his arms got tired, but my girlfriend gave me death look, so I had to tell the poor guy to stop.
Our meal was great, especially because we didn't have to wait long and everything came out pretty fast. Out waiter told us to tread lightly coming on the weekend though. He told us to check out the bakery out front, so we did.
Salted Peanut Tiramisu - Espresso coffee soaked rice sponge cake with mascarpone cream, saulted caramel and candied peanuts.
If this doesn't make you salivate we can't be friends.
Italian Chocolates.
Got two of everything, the idea is that we each get to have one. But how it really goes down; If there is one she likes a lot, shes having both.
I'm pretty sure the only reason why my girlfriend got this was because it matched her nails...
This was my first post, I hope you enjoyed our adventure and pictures. I am not the best photographer but it is a work in progress.
Eatly
10250 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90067