L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 28 L'Italo-Americano During the press meeting that took place shortly before the official opening, Nicola Farinet- ti, CEO of Eataly USA, made a speech along with chef Mario Batali, one of Eataly's partners, and Mayor of Los Angeles Eric G arcetti. By the s tage, jus t before the cutting of the ribbon, were the Saper brothers, COO Alex and CFO Adam. Celebri- ties like Emmy Rossum, Sophia Bush, Andy Garcia and Jimmy Kimmel also attended the event. "I'm from Novello, a small village of 800 in P iedmont, Italy," comments CEO Nicola Farinetti. "So I can confidently say I grew up at a slightly differ- ent pace than people in LA. However, I understood one thing quickly: Angelenos like good, clean food, made by local pro- ducers with phenomenal stories behind them…And we do, too. So yes! We'll get along just fine." The mayor also had thought- ful and encouraging words for the venture: "Thank you for bringing Eataly's vision here, something that the city has long waited for. We are now the best city in the world, with the best food in the world. When years ago, s hortly after becoming mayor, I visited NY's Eataly I thought: 'we have to have the s ame thing here!' A nd w e opened it right on time for the Olympics. In Los Angeles every culture is well accepted, but we are also a city founded by the Italian-American community. 1.7 million jobs are created by restaurants, which is 10% of the employment in this city, and from today on these numbers will get even higher." To represent the Italian con- sulate, Valentina Gambelunghe: "It is a pleasure to be here today, only a few days before the open- ing of the Second Week of Ital- ian Cuisine, where we want to promote Italian culinary excel- lence abroad, an event possible thanks to the Italians and Italian companies - like Eataly - work- ing abroad and supporting the concept of Made in Italy." Mario Batali's speech wraps up the grand opening. "I also speak on behalf of my partner Joe Bastianich: it's really fun for us to work with the Sapers and the Farinettis because Eataly is a place that shows what people can really do. What we celebrate here is the human touch, and we want you to do something even more important: get the ingredi- ents, go home and cook for your family. And when you finish, don't rush into cleaning because you're busy, just sit at the table for twenty minutes and see what happens. You'll forget about stress and about your cell phone and rediscover the pleasure of interacting with your family instead. " Indeed, people will not only be able to explore Eataly LA, but also shop for the very ingre- dients chefs use in the restau- rants. The retail offering features a rich produce section, a fresh market with high-quality ingre- dients, including home made mozzarella produced in loco, cold cuts and cheeses, fresh pas ta, fis h, meat and baked goods. Customers will also be able to stock up their pantry with pasta, sauces, condiments, extra-virgin olive oil and the mos t delicious s election of candy. Eataly is located at 10250 Santa Monica Boulevard in Cen- tury City at the Westfield Shop- ping Center, open from 9:00 AM to 11:00PM. Marino Monferrato, general manager of the Californian loca- A Little "Eataly" in Los Angeles: Italy's most notorious food hall lands on the West Coast tion, gave us some more insights about about LA Eataly. Can you tell us more about this location? Our space is 67,000 square feet on four levels, including our warehouse. We have a coffee shop on the second floor, where fresh pastries, cannoli and bom- boloni filled with cream or jam are made every morning. We also have a Cooking School and a Gelateria. On the third floor, you'll find the supermarket and all the restaurants. In a while, we'll open a fourth floor, with a restaurant called Terra, serving grilled food like the one we have in Boston. We have about 500 employees, a mix between Ital- ians and Americans: this is the American location with more Italians workers. Why did you also open a Cooking School? Eataly's philosophy is "Eat, Learn and Shop:" the school is part of the learning concept. It will be run by our chef Denis Dello Stritto, who used to work for the Four Seasons. For the moment, classes will be online, but soon we'll have them here, too. Which kind of classes will you have? We'll have some for begin- ners, meaning we'll focus on pasta. There will also be wine and food tasting classes or just wine tasting classes. It's not going to be a simply theoretical school, it'll be quite hands-on, too. Is it more challenging to have Californians appreciate Italian specialties? I don't think so, I think the challenge is to make clear what a good product is. The Californ- ian is already very benefited by the weather, that provides fresh produce all year round. Bio- dynamis m is much more acknowledged here than in the East Coast, so I think the only problem is to try to make Ange- lenos understand that pasta is not bad, that we eat it every day in Italy, that good gluten is not bad for us. If we focus on the quality of the ingredients, it will be fine. What would you have them try first? A coffee! Espresso is so sim- ple but so hard to prepare. I'm from Turin, but I lived so many years in America and coffee brings me back home. Then, I would say tiramisù, typical Ital- ian petit fours pastries and pig- nole from Piedmont. Of course, I would suggest also Neapolitan pizza: it's real pizza, not the one you order and it is delivered in ten minutes. And panigacci, flat breads from Liguria, enjoyed both savory and sweet. And then pasta: tomato pasta, pasta with sea urchin, or bottarga, or sar- dines. It all goes back to the Slow Food's concept invented by Oscar Farinetti? Yes, absolutely. We have to start from basic stuff to make it clear spaghetti and meatballs are not part of our culinary tradition. Still, our meatballs are phenom- enal. LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY Mayor Eric Garcetti, Mario Batali and Valentina Gambelunghe attend Eataly Los Angeles Grand Opening Celebration at Eataly LA. (Photo by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Eataly) Continued from page 1 A general view of atmopshere at Eataly Los Angeles Grand Opening Celebration at Eataly LA on November 3, 2017 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Eataly)

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