Eataly

Now this is a post after my own heart. Eataly is quite simply, THE BEST. Part high-end Italian food market, part mall-chain comprising of the best food court EVER, part retail store...stepping into Eataly is better than being at a Target Superstore in the suburbs right when it opens. And the only two locations outside of Italy are in Chicago (my hometown) and New York (where I live now)...so my love for Eataly is pretty freaking high.  I have been waiting to take Jenson to Eataly forever (or really 17 months) and we decided that Martin Luther King Day was a most appropriate day to get stupid. We arrived at Eataly before the doors were open with no strategy. We had this.

What transpired over the next hour was a haze of cheese, pork, sous chef watching, pasta-rolling, fish-spotting madness. Watching my child run through aisles of cheese and stuff hot slices of fresh pork into his mouth practically moved me to tears. There was focaccia sampling and more pork eating. There was gawking at mini pineapples that inexplicably cost $7 and drooling (quite literally for one family member) over the smorgasbord of chocolates that took up an entire section. Because we were there so early and it was a holiday, we got to watch the staff train and prep the day's food. And because it's apparently hard to resist a toddler with 2.5 teeth decked out in skinny jeans, a saliva-soaked shirt and a puffer vest, Jenson was offered samples that were not offered to the people who gave him life. I decided to let it slide. 

I cannot tell you how many time I've been to Eataly but experiencing it with my child was truly a day to remember and cherish.  Watching him shriek with happiness as he ran through the store reminded myself of how I feel inside every time I go into the store or try an amazing plate of food. But his reactions were so much more on-point. The rest of the morning was spent toddling after Jenson yelling things like, "You can't burrow your fingers into ALL of the cheeses," and "lets go scare daddy so he'll drop the rest of the pork sandwich." Eataly, it's been real and we will be back! 

LOCATION: Eataly, 200 5th Avenue, New York