Eatdrink #81 January_February 2020

26 | January/February 2020
You can sip
Italian wine,
a Negroni,
Aperol
Spritz or
other Italian
aperitivo
while you
shop, peruse
the aisles
or partake
in a tasting
or cooking
class. There
is seating
La Scuola (Cooking School) for 400 in
the three
restaurants. A fourth, Trattoria Milano, will
open soon on the main floor next to Il Gran
Caffé, an upscale full-service coffee bar from
Italian coffee roaster illy. The ground floor
caffé offers high-quality coffee-based drinks,
confectionery, panini, and a selection of
Italian wines, beer and spirits.
There are multiple market counters,
including a butcher, a baker, a cheesemonger,
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fresh mozzarella counter, olive oil and
balsamico tasting bar, and fresh pasta and
pizza counters. There are also fruit and
vegetable stands in the food emporium. Eataly
features several bars, a cooking school and
an in-house brewery (in partnership with
Toronto’s Indie Alehouse Brewing Co.).
Menu offerings are traditional and straightforward,
featuring hand-crafted and quality
Italian ingredients, executed with skill and an
eye to detail. In Italy, gastronomy developed
along provincial lines. Until the unification
of Italy in 1861, there was no national Italian
cuisine. The reality of Italian cookery is that
it is a merger of distinct and diverse regional
cuisines and their subsets. The home still
remains the safeguard of Italian indigenous
cooking and culinary traditions, and this is
reflected in the restaurant’s offerings.
On our first visit we ate at La Piazza,
a restaurant in the heart of the store. Its
concept was inspired by the traditional
Italian town square. The tables are situated
close together. We arrived promptly at 11
a.m. to get a good table overlooking Balmuto
Street. La Piazza does not take reservations,
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