CHICAGO, Illinois – Eataly, the enormous two-story, $28 million theme park of Italian food and culture, opens today its second U.S. location in Chicago. The new Eataly, on Ohio Street near Michigan Avenue in the retail heart of Chicago, will occupy the former home of the ESPN Zone sports bar and arcade that closed in 2010, in a more than 60,000-square-foot space.
As with every other Eataly around the world, Eataly Chicago was moulded after the first Eataly in Turin, Italy, founded by Oscar Farinetti in 2007.
Like Eataly New York, this second US outpost is a partnership between Eataly Italia, Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich and Lidia Bastianich of Batali- Bastianich (B&B) Hospitality Group, and Adam and Alex Saper, brothers and operating partners.
At 63,000 square feet, the Chicago store will have plenty for visitors to shop, taste and savour including: seven boutique eateries (La Pizza & La Pasta, La Carne, Il Pesce, Le Verdure, La Piazza, Il Fritto, La Birreria) and a fine dining restaurant, Baffo (to open at a later date); retail counters, including meat, fish, fresh pasta, pastry and chocolate, cheese and cured meats; two coffee bars, Lavazza and Vergnano; a Nutella corner; a bakery; a mozzarella lab; a gelateria; every essential grocery department including sweets, spreads and jams, more than 100 olive oils – resting under the shade of an olive tree – dry pastas and condiments; a housewares section; a book store; Vino Libero, the wine bar and store; a microbrewery; a cooking school; various private event spaces, and much more.
“The city of Chicago boasts such a great food culture; we are very excited about this new opening,” Oscar Farinetti, founder of Eataly comments. “The store is gorgeous and we hope Chicagoans will love it just as much as Eataly cooks what it sells and sells what it cooks, meaning nearly every ingredient used in the restaurants will be also be available for retail purchase.
Eataly strongly encourages guests to “eat, shop, learn” and the marketplace will afford all occasions to do just this.
