Eataly Los Angeles: Where Do I Start?

Finally, the new Eataly in Century City is in full operation.  Mom and I went there to check it out on a recent Saturday night.  I had previously been to the New York Eataly and the Chicago Eataly, but they both pale by comparison to what they have achieved in LA.  It's located in the newly remodeled Westfield Century City Mall, which I have written about before.  The mall is stunning, with more high end shops and restaurants than you can imagine.  Eataly is the piece de resistance!

Eataly is huge.  It's on three floors, and I couldn't get the square footage, but it must be tens of thousands.  The new rooftop restaurant Terra, is 11,000 square feet, and the bottom two floors are huge.  We did not eat at Terra, but I would sure want to try it in the future.  It has a big bar, where the focus is gin and tonic, with special gins from all over the world.  The restaurant is indoor/outdoor, with twinkling lights everywhere and a beautiful view of the city.  The food features Italian skewers, meats and fish on a skewer cooked over the grill, and lots of fresh grilled veggies.  It has a complete menu of salads, lots of Italian themed dishes and good wine.  Very romantic.

On the other two floors, you will find several restaurants, including a casual pizza place where you stand in line to order, the get your pizza and seat yourself.  The line was very long when we were there.  I would not have waited, but lots of people did, and were rewarded with some fantastic pizza.  Wine bars are everywhere, and a huge wine shop is there too.  Another eating possibility is the place mom and I ate.  It's also casual dining, with an open kitchen.  All the tables are high tops, and you seat yourself.  Soon a very knowledgeable wait person will come and explain the menu items to you.  We had a delicious charcuterie plate (for 2) but very large, which included several meats like prosciutto, ham and salami, several cheeses, an apricot spread (think spicy jam), and pesto.  This was served with thin grilled rounds of bread that resembled pita.  Delicious.  We also tried the tagliatelle with lamb ragout and beef and pork meatballs with marinara.  Fabulous, all of it.  We each had a nice glass of wine and were thoroughly stuffed.  One final restaurant option is a full service fish restaurant, with great grilled fresh fish and Italian specialties.  Wherever you eat, you won't be disappointed.

There is another area near the front of the store that serves coffee.  Lots of delicious kinds of coffee.  Most people select a dessert from one of the many dessert windows to enjoy with their coffee.  Around the rest of the store you will see a large cooking school, busy most weekdays with lots of students learning how to cook Italian.  There are several cheese displays, featuring hundreds of cheeses, both imported and local.  Love the smell.  Also, another display of sliced meats.  There were about 20 different types of salami alone!  You can watch the pasta man make pasta, or the bread man make bread.  There are imported Italian canned foods, dishes, pots and pans, you name it.  I can't think of anything they've missed.

Next time you're in LA, make Eataly one of your stops.  I would plan at least two hours, one  hour to shop and one hour to eat.  If you're a foodie like me you will be in a happy place.  If you're not, you're still going to like it.  It's quite something.