Just a hop, skip, and an air-conditioned walk over from Aria, is Eataly. Though there’s one in Century City, this is so much more convenient for me.
I gotta say this place is fascinating. There’s so much to look at and check out. We did a complete walkthrough before making any decisions.
The charcuterie and formaggio station was celebrating National Cheese Day, so all cheese purchases were 20% off. They have an impressive selection of meats and cheeses.
The fish station had Italian caviar, oysters, and a nice selection of fish…some from Italy, some domestic…but all looked fantastic. You could order cooked pasta dishes here and have them cook any of the seafood items to order.
The butcher station had meat and sausages for purchase. There was a cool beef and truffle sausage, but they were all sold out for the day. The SRF American waygu looked lovely as did the lamb chops and tomahawk ribeye chop. For cost + $15, the grill kitchen will happily cook for your selected meat option.
The pizza station offers pizza Romano-style. Thicker crust pizza cooked in wood burning ovens.
There’s a marketplace area with pantry Italian products and some take & go snacks.
There’s a dessert station where the gelato/sorbetto, Nutella crepes and waffles, canola, and dessert cakes and cookies. The gelato was subpar to Leo’s magic…I tried it just to make sure I wasn’t missing out on anything. The way they wrap the dessert cakes is lovely…one of the prettiest boxes much like Laudereé.
There’s a wine bar station where you can sit and sip wines from Italy.
There’s a wine marketplace that has an amazing selection of Italian wines and a tasting bar area. They have different flight options ranging from $20 to $100 for 3 2 oz. pours of various wines. I tried the $40 option of wines from the Sangiovese region. They were super bold versions of Pinot Noir…I rather loved the strong earthy finish of the wines…my husband not so much because he enjoys the smoothness if Napa wines.
The bread station offers fresh baked bread, and notes about the flour they use and the fermentation process. We saw one of their bakers carefully shaping loaves. There’s an impressive selection of breads and focaccia and pizza-like flatbreads.
There was a casual pasta and Neapolitan pizza restaurant and Manzo, the fine dining dinner option.
There was a rotisserie with fresh chickens and panini. They also had a cold salad case with fresh made mozzarella. There was actually a station where there was a cheese maker making fresh mozzarella nearby. It was pretty cool to see.
I think it would be pretty easy to get lost here for a couple of hours. We were here on a Tuesday afternoon so we had plenty of room and time to explore at our leisure. While it is spacious, I can see this place being a shitshow on weekends because I totally see it overcrowding with folks wanting to come here to explore or for a cheaper meal options.
We grabbed a margarita pizza from the Romano station and a tagliatelle Bolognese to go. The chew on the pizza crust was spectacular and there were lovely leopard spots on the underskirt. The tomato sauce was a nice balance of sweet and acidic to pair with the housemade mozzarella and fresh basil. I loved the texture of the tagliatelle, and the Bolognese sauce was nice…tomato-y and beefy and also light at the same time. The pasta was served with 2 slices of warmed bread.
I still want to visit the LA location, but it looks like Vegas may be getting my business more because of convenience and I can get MLife points here.