missmaggiepops

Was at Mario Batali’s Eataly in Chicago for the first time last week to have dinner with a friend from out-of-town. The place is a candy store for adults obsessed with food. I walked around with eyes as large as saucers, while my friend had to help guide me through to find something for dinner, lest she loose me, drooling in a pile of pasta somewhere….
Whole Foods be damned, Eataly is where everyone should be shopping.
Along with tins of Lavazza espresso, cold-pressed olive oil, and every other food item you can think of for purchase, there was a beauty section lined with organic products made with olive oil.
For dinner, we sat down at the wine bar that serves small plates. With the above salad that contained the most delicious shards of parm, we shared perfect arancini, deep fried cod balls, and a caprese salad flecked with Maldon salt. For dessert, we went downstairs and helped ourselves to the chocolate bins, which you can purchase by the pound. O.M.G….

Cuca melons: tiny cucumbers shaped like mini-watermelons. They were slightly sweet. I suspect these will show up on everybody’s appetizer plate soon. I mean, they’re just so Pinterest friendly for all of our food snapshots….

Shishito peppers, ’nuff said.

The cheese section was Insanity. If I didn’t have a husband to answer to, I would have bought every single cheese offered. There was also butter for sale; cultured butter from Vermont, might I add. I did snag that.

Whole ham hocks & cheese for sale, in case you’re having a party. In which case, you should totally invite me……

There was a gadgets section, which I’m actually not-that-into, but this was kinda’ neato- it’s a pasta measurer. Because who hasn’t slipped up on how much dry pasta to make for 1, or 2 people?
If you havn’t been yet, get to Eataly as quickly as you can. And make sure you just got paid so that you can blow it all there.