The good, the bad and the crowded at Eataly
8:57 a.m.
I enter Eataly through the main Bloor St. W. doors, hungry for breakfast.
Four minutes later, I carry a medium cappuccino ($4.75) and a slab of polenta cake ($4.90) to a marble table in the chic Il Gran Caffe by Illy. All good. Tradespeople tinker with light fixtures while I drink my coffee.
It’s Day Five of Eataly, an upscale Italian food emporium that is like Dean & DeLuca meets Disneyland. The 50,000sq. ft. store unfolds over three floors of the Manulife Centre.
9:23 a.m.
Upstairs to the market place, Eataly’s raison d’être.
I note the duck legs ($29.90 a pound), the Sheldon Creek egg nog ($5.89) and the fresh produce priced on par with Loblaws. (The Weston family is part of the Eataly project.) Panettones are stacked amidst tableware and souvenir T-shirts. I wander through the cheese section, planning fantasy picnics. 10 a.m. Water break (free) at the ground-floor cafe. Actor Eugene Levy lines up at the pastry counter. He poses for a fan photo. 10:17 a.m. Coffee break. This time it’s upstairs at Caffe Vergnano 1882, which brews the eponymous beans in an bronze machine.
At Rome’s Eataly a few years ago, I would knock back an espresso standing at the counter. The smooth brew required no sugar. Here, the barista serves a sit-down espresso macchiato ($3.35) with cinnamon biscotti and a glass of water. Most correct. But the coffee is sour. 11 a.m. The upstairs food counters open. The longest line is at the Pizza alla Pala takeout counter, which sells Roman-style pizza by the slice.
Crowds throng the market like the Uffizi Gallery, but instead of classical paintings they stop to check out the Venchi chocolate display. Few have shopping baskets. 11:57 a.m. Lunch at La Piazza, the busiest of Eataly’s three restaurants and the closest to the secondfloor entrance.
Opening tastes are lovely: Glasses of Schioppettino red wine by Eataly partner Bastianich ($17); the glorious housebaked bread; and a trio of intensely cheesy arancini ($9).
The rest is a mess. Raw swordfish ($13) from the nearby Diana’s Seafood counter is none too fresh. Deep-dish personal pan pizzas, a Turin variant called al padellino, are undercooked in the centre, with translucent dough under toppings like sausage ($15) or four cheeses ($16). Service is scattershot. There is no dessert “because the idea is to go around and find something,” says the server. 1:12 p.m. Cannoli break. Fried shells are filled to order, as they should be. Traditional sheep’s milk ricotta ($4.90) is richer than cow’s milk ricotta ($3.90). 1:30 p.m. Il Gran Caffe, again. Tiramisu ($6.40) is excellent; the espresso macchiato ($3.35) needs sugar but isn’t as sour as upstairs.
Paramedics arrive to treat a shopper whose left foot has been hurt in the front door. 2:46 p.m. I return to Eataly after an emergency trip to my nearby dentist. I pulled out a filling eating caramels the day before (not for work). I forego freezing to get back to eating quicker.
“Good luck chewing!,” says my dentist.
The downstairs Birroteca by Indie Ale House is dark and grim. A flight of three beers is $10. I use the other side of my mouth to try potato chips ($5). Horrendous. A topping of chili peppers and oregano looks like wet sand and tastes only of salt. 5:54 p.m. La Pizza e La Pasta restaurant, like the others here, doesn’t take reservations. I join the 45minute wait list for a table. It’s so crowded that a woman putting on her coat knocks a bowl of pasta out of a server’s hand. He catches it before it hits the floor.
It’s good to see Torontonians gathered for good food. It’s even better when the table is ready seven minutes later.
This meal is better, launched by a paper plane ($17) cocktail that doesn’t skimp on the bitters. House-made mozzarella ($12) is firm and barely salted, tasting like cooked milk, while Sicilian-style cauliflower ($7) is a balance of sweet and sour.
Spaghetti al pomodoro ($12) is simplicity itself, the dry pasta cooked more al dente than customary at Toronto restaurants. There’s also little to hide behind in the fresh agnolotti ($29) made on site. The tiny pockets are filled with pork and veal, then glossed with truffle butter and Parmesan cheese. That’s it. 6:45 p.m. Takeout time at Trattoria ToGo. Here, I get good pork-andveal meatballs in tomato sauce ($39.38 a kilo), creamy Tuscan beans sweetened by carrots ($24.90 a kilo) and braised greens studded with pork ($24.90 a kilo). The package leaks on my subway ride home. 6:55 p.m. After almost 10 hours and $350 at Eataly, I find deliciousness and disappointment in equal doses. One thing for sure: dental work without freezing is easier to bear than the crowds.
Next time I crave Italian food, I’ll buy the ingredients at Eataly and cook them at home.