I don’t have to tell you that Eataly features the “best of the best” of authentic Italian fare to eat on the premises or take home. They have plenty of great gift baskets and wrapped panettone that you cannot find anywhere else in the city! (I plan to purchase several of these for the holidays.) I perused all these great gifting goodies while I attended the preview for the newest location at 200 Lafayette Street in Soho. Oh course I ate my way through the party for a solid two hours while I browsed the shelves!
When you walk into the new Eataly location, you walk right into the restaurant as opposed to a shopping area. Guests at the preview event were greeted with signature cocktails and spoonfuls of caviar paired with champagne.
There was amazingly creamy risotto served from a huge wheel of Parmesan Reggiano. This was one of my favorite items served during the evening.
The pizza in the Rossopomodoro area of any Eataly location is the “star of the show,” especially when it comes to family dining. There are so many different varieties and the pies are the perfect size for a family of four. I ate a slice of each of these pizzas at the preview party and I wanted more!
Guests got to taste some of the panettone from Eataly’s house brand topped with a lovely homemade vanilla sauce but the largest panettone sold in the store was not cut up. This four foot wide and four foot high monster will make any Christmas morning super memorable! You will need a lot of guests to finish one!
Guests enjoyed the Espresso Martinis made with Lavazza espresso served over at the coffee and dessert counter. Just for the record, in everyday life, you have to order one over at the bar in the front room!
My favorite part of the evening was getting to have one of these amazing tiramisus from the refrigerator case—it’s made from a classic recipe but has more mascarpone and less cake than most versions of this legendary Sicilian speciality. I will definitely go back to Eataly to have more of these individual portions and I won’t share, LOL!
Here are the some of the colorful gift baskets that are the ultimate foodie holiday gifts. I was able to go to the press preview of Eataly holiday gift items in their downtown location back in August but at the time these had to be kept under wraps and could not be shown online or in print.
The Soho location officially opens the first week of December and that was the ideal time to choose for a launch. There are will be many gourmet food specials for gifting available through the new year! You can even put together your own custom gift baskets of pasta and other items gathered from the packaged goods areas. For more info, go to eataly.com. I consider all Eataly locations to be Christmas food meccas—and I bet that you do as well!
