Food Love + Italy = Eataly

So as I mentioned in my last post, I have recently started a new job in Torino, (thus the frequent Torino postings). I am excited about this because I have loved the city ever since the first time I visited over three years ago, and because my new job is pretty much located at my idea of heaven. Eataly.

Oh you clever Italians.

Describing Eataly is never an easy task because there is nothing to compare it to. Grocery store? Yes, but not like you know. Restaurant? Oh yes, that too. Perhaps it is easier just to take you on a tour.

The first thing you will notice as you enter is that Eataly is nothing like any grocery store you have visited before. The typical set-up of entering into the fruits and veggies, finding your dairy and meats along the periphery, and processed foods down the aisles doesn't exist here. There is no prescribed flow of traffic, silently herding you up and down, in and out. A Wendell Berry quote, proposing that, "eating is an agricultural act," greets you at the entrance and a huge fruit and vegetable wheel guides you in selecting your seasonal favorites. The concept of aisles is minimally applied here; rather the old vermouth factory has been converted into a sunny store, with an open, spacious design, complete with a vermouth museum on its top floor.

Besides the physical set up of the store, what sets it apart from any other grocery is what you are filling your basket with. The products here, as you probably guessed from its title, are Italian products, mainly produced by small artisan producers. The story goes that Eataly's founder and owner, Oscar Farinetti, was strolling through Salone del Gusto (Slow Food's food and wine fair) and thought to himself how great it would be if someone opened a store to sell all the amazing foods featured there. Then he realized that that someone could be him, and so we find ourselves some years later with stores popping up like weeds (the good ones, of course). The mother-ship is in Torino, but you can also find smaller shops in Milan, Bologna, Asti, and Pinerolo. Head east from Italy, you'll find several stores in Tokyo, head west and you will soon find one in New York City.

Rather than aisles, the store is laid out in sections: fruits and veggies, seafood, meat, cheese and cured meats, pastas, olive oils, preserved condiments, a bakery and an entire floor dedicated to wine and artisan beers. Each section has its own little restaurant featuring dishes made by the exact products you are buying. Genius.

Pick a bottle and fill it with your choice of good red or white wine for about 3 Euros

While Eataly could have easily become another specialty delicatessen with a limited elite market, the owners strategically prevented that by locating the store in a more industrial part of the city and keeping their prices competitive. Sure you will pay a bit more for your hand rolled pasta here than you would for a box of industrial stuff elsewhere, but with your tastier dinner comes a story of the producer you are supporting. That's what Eataly is all about: eating and drinking well, learning and supporting.

The more you know, the better it tastes.

Le Vitel Ettone'

How cute is their mascot of sorts? Here he is in his detective incarnation.

Another favorite in Turin (odd, the frequency that Turin keeps coming up, hmmm?). The last time I was in the city for the day by myself, I used all my Detective Holmes tricks and tracked down Le Vitel Ettone', where I had not been in over three years. As I nestled into my cozy little spot and savored my plate of plump little stuffed pastas, I thought if I were to have my own restaurant one day, I would take a lot of inspiration from Ettone.

Cheers to the manageable size of it, the chalkboard announcing your lunch choices, the assortment of antique tables, the attention to detail like with the complimentary smellies in the bathroom. It is the sort of place where you feel the love, devotion and involvement of the owner.

The compact kitchen is tucked away in one corner of the rather small dining room and the menu is smartly designed to feature just a few antipasti, primi and secondi to make working in such a limited space do-able. Remember in my last Turin post how I mentioned that there is not tons of variety when it comes to the local specialties? Well the theme continues here, but with an occasional update or twist to the classics. The wines of the region are rightly highlighted with a good selection by the glass or entire bottles.

All in all a darling place for a quick, but thoughtfully prepared lunch on your own or a long lingering repose with a dear friend and a bottle of the local finest.


Le Vitel Ettone'
Via Francesco da Paola, 4
Turin, Italy 10123
011 8124621

Perfection under the Mole

The restaurant's name means "Under the Mole"; the Mole is the gorgeous dome seen here.

I was in Turin the other day with a good friend and she brilliantly summed up one of my favorite Italian cities with, "It's like Paris but a bit grungier." True story. For me the city is equally defined by its sweeping, noble piazzas, decked out in their Baroque and Neo-Classic palazzos, as it is by its thriving immigrant communities, which inevitably add a much welcomed zest to the local culture. You can start your day with a brioche and bicerin at one of the numerous grand cafes then head off to the ethnic markets to take home some rare Chinese veggies to cook up for lunch. The mark of a great city if you ask me.

You know another mark of a great city? Great food (duh). Since B and I both lived in Piemonte (the Italian region where you find Turin) we were eager to eat some of the classic dishes we so miss, and luckily for us, we didn't have to look beyond the Slow Food Osteria guide to find a real winner in Sotto la Mole.

Now the thing about eating in Italy is that when considering the country as a whole, the cuisine possibilities are seemingly infinite, but when discussing typical dishes for a given province, well things don't change so much from one restaurant to the next. I could pretty much count on my two hands the dishes (and I do mean, antipasto, pastas, rice, meats and desserts) to be found on any menu in and around Turin. Understandably this gets to be a bit monotonous, especially if you don't live in the city where you have access to different types of food, but for us simple day-trippers, this was perfect since it was the classics we longed for.

Before we even arrived, I knew exactly what I wanted to start with: carne cruda. Now for those of us not accustomed to eating raw meat, it may sound pretty nasty, but it is really gorgeous and satisfying and not to be found out here in Parma (unless we're talking about horse meat, which is another story). Sotto la Mole presents the dish with a flourish: three small cylinders of hand chopped raw beef, each topped with a small green leafy garnish and delicatley sprinkled with sea salt and olive oil. Heaven. B and P enjoyed an artichoke flan, nestled in a warm bath of bagna cauda - another Piemontese specialty of warm olive oil, garlic and anchovies.

For our primi we went back to basics. Gnocchi for me in a rich sauce of local Castelmagno cheese, tajarin (a very thinly cut, eggy pasta) with veal sausage and rosemary for B, and a fantastic risotto with sausage and Barolo wine for P. Love all around.

Speaking of wine, you really cannot talk about Piemonte without talking about wine since some of Italy's top bottles come from the local vineyards. Living here we were really quite spoiled with what we drank, and were delighted to have our pick of Barberas, Barolos and Dolcettos. In the end we picked a fruity Barbera from Elio Grasso, that just as the food, not surprisingly, did not disappoint.

Ristorante Sotto la Mole
Via Montebello, 9
Turin, Italy
011 8179398

Best Little Cafes

When this is happening outside....

cozy up to a little table here...

and warm yourself, inside and out with one of these.

In a city known for its sprawling piazzas and noble cafes, Caffe' Bicerin is found humbly tucked away in a small corner of Turin. Run only by women, (historically women weren't welcomed in cafes. Decent women, that is. As a result, this cafe was a haven for them.) the cafe serves up the finest version of the coffee drink by the same name.

This isn't a snack people, so don't even think of downing one an hour or two before your next big meal. These pack enough punch to keep you going all day long. Starbucks ain't got nothin' on the bicerin.

Espresso
Bitter, dark chocolate

Fresh cream

P.S. The zabaione is pretty life-changing too!

Caffe' al Bicerin
Piazza della Consolata, 5
Turin, Italy
+39 011 4369325