*By: Deepi Harish*
We’re stoked that Canada’s first-ever Eataly location opens its doors on November 13 in Toronto’s Manulife Centre at Bay and Bloor, and it’ll make all your cheese, wine and pasta dreams come true. Last week, the CEO (also the son of Eataly’s founder) Nicola Farinetti, gave us a tour of the 50,000 square foot space and it does not disappoint. The space is full of many pleasing aromas, from chocolate to fresh-baked bread to olive oil and much more.
Inside you’ll find four restaurants, seven food counters (including a Sicilian cannoli and gelato station), a café (serving booze and espresso), three bars, a cooking school and an upscale marketplace with items straight from the motherland.
The lower level is taken over by a brewery, beer shop and tasting room. They’ve partnered up with Indie Ale House–a small Toronto brewery to create several craft beers only available at Eataly Toronto. The best part is you can watch artists at work as they shape 40 types of pasta and pull housemade mozzarella daily.
Now that we’ve toured the space, sampled the food and are overwhelmed with the selection, we wanted to know what’s worth buying at Eataly Toronto. We spoke to Dino Borri, Eataly’s VP of Global Partnership and asked him to suggest the top food items worth purchasing. Here’s his recommendation:
12 Foods To Buy At Eataly Toronto
1) Afeltra Vesuvio Pasta: Afeltra has been making authentic pasta di Gragnano IGP for over 150 years. It’s produced in the small city of Gragnano, near Naples. Today, Afeltra continues to make pasta in the same pasta factory, using the same water from Monti Lattari and air-drying each shape in that same Mediterranean breeze. The Vesuvio pasta resembles a shell to represent the seaside city of Napoli. Plus, the shape is perfect for holding on to hearty sauces.
2) Prosciutto di Carpegna DOP: This prosciutto comes from pigs raised in Lombardia, Emilia-Romagna and Le Marche regions of Italy. It’s known for its intense flavour and exceptionally soft texture. There’s also a sweetness to it that comes from curing the meat in sweet salt for at least ten months. Prosciutto di Carpegna is considered one of the most exclusive prosciuttos in the world.
3) Focaccia Classica: Fresh focaccias are baked in-house every day, which is the heart of Eataly. The flour used to make the focaccia comes from Mulino Marino, a highly respected flour mill in northern Piemonte.
4) Tartufo Bianco d’Alba: Any top chef will tell you that the world’s best white truffles hail from Alba and Eataly not only sells them, they serve them. White truffles are currently in season which means they’re fresh and flavourful. Adding them to your risotto or pasta will give the dish a proper aromatic and earthy richness.
5) Pomodorini Datterini Cosi Com’è: Based in Campania, a small Italian producer named Così Com’è grows local tomatoes, harvests them at their peak and jars them within hours. This red sauce is also used in Eataly signature pizza and pasta that they serve in-house.
6) Aceto Balsamico Villa Manodori: Massimo Bottura is one of Italy’s best chefs who runs a three Michelin-star restaurant in Modena. He also produces authentic balsamic vinegar from Modena. Perfect for drizzling over Parmigiano Reggiano.
7) Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Choose from over 100 bottles of olive oil made exclusively with Italian olives and 100% Italian monocultivar extra virgin. They carry everything from delicate, buttery oils from the north to zesty, robust oils of the south. With so many varieties you can really taste the specific terroir of every region.
8) Anything from the fish counter: Partnering with Diana’s, Toronto’s fresh seafood market, you’ll have access to seasonable, traceable and sustainable fish at the in-house restaurant or for taking home.
9) Crema Spalmabile Venchi: This is essentially high-quality Nutella made with hazelnuts from Piedmont and Venchi chocolate, one of the best artisanal chocolatiers in Italy.
10) Un caffè: There are two styles of espresso that are sold and brewed at the café: Vergnano and illy. Both are made with high-quality beans sourced from the best coffee growers from around the world.
11) Formaggio di Bra: This cheese comes from the town of Bra in Piemonte. It’s a semi-hard cheese made with cow, sheep and goat’s milk. It pairs well with young, ruby red wines.
Fun fact: The town Bra is where Slow Food was born. It became a movement to appreciate small-scale food producers, the taste of good food and to preserve biodiversity, which is the opposite of fast food.
12) Panettone: ‘Tis the season for traditional, Italian and artisanal panettone. They come in a wide selection of flavours from the classic candied fruit and raisins kinds to contemporary ones with salted caramel, pistachio, and more. Italians enjoy panettone during the holidays, but since it pairs well with coffee, tea and wine, we recommend eating it all year round.
A huge thanks to Eataly Toronto for inviting us to the media preview before doors open to the public.
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