Eataly

If you haven't visited Eataly yet, you ought to since everyone's talking about it. Come peruse the aisles for gourmet cold cuts, cheeses, wines...and anything else you can imagine relating to Italian food and unkosher decadence. The food "booths" and stations are organized and separated according to theme, very similar to a department store. You want pizza? Go find the pizza station 'cause this oyster bar does NOT serve pizza. Salami? Go over there where it says SALAMI! Beer? Check out our lunch at Birreria because this is a wine tasting bar and we sell WINE. This place is big, slammed and fabulous.

We met Laurie and Patrick, our fave foodie buddies, at Eataly and feasted upstairs first at Birreria before exploring the ground floor craving oysters and vino.

People were fighting for very limited seating at the bar or a tall table to stand and eat at. Had to stand at the tables because no chairs were provided! Prepare to stand at the oyster station ready and willing to drop $100+ on oysters, wine and gourmet nibbles. Only in NYC will you fight for a table to STAND at.

We were patient, NYC parking style, and scored a coveted seat (and actual seat!) at the oyster bar. We tried our best to seek comfort on our backless stools while we stared arrogantly at the STANDERS nearby enjoying their wine trying to slurp oysters while standing in uncomfortable hipster shoes and heels.

There were three guys manning this oyster bar providing service to us and 58 other eager, hungry, parched patrons. The first guy we saw bussed our table, took our orders, poured wine, prepped/served cheese plates and brought us our oysters. The second guy shucked all the oysters (for the 60 dining patrons at any given time), chopped all the garnishes, took out the trash and restocked wine bottles the entire time. The third guy walked around and bussed the stand-up tables, took the standers' orders, poured their wine, served them. Triple guy efficiency at its prime.

Omg, these were fabulous, ice cold and briny. I take my oysters with lemon and pepper. Sensational.

Some of the best, I kid you not, BEST mozzarella, house-pesto and ham in the world.

The gelato line was too long and we didn't want to deal with the wait.

Macchiato Bar.  We took macchiato shots standing at the bar. Rich, smoky, delicate flavors. Some of the best sips of coffee I've had in my life. How do I get my own giant macciato machine? There were 2 people manning the macchiato bar to serve about 25 people crowded around the bar (standing, of course) at any given time.

Forgot the exact pricing, but we noted that a cup of macchiato was reasonable, within Starbucks ballpark. This divine pistachio embedded dark chocolate, however, was the big splurge. Wow, this was a magnificent coffee break. Coffee snobs everywhere will be very satisfied.

Eataly is located right across the street from the Flatiron Building. Come by when you're feeling like you want to blow money on some awesome food and drink in a sort of Italian-foodie-department-store experience.

xoxo