Viva Lidia!

I love Lidia Bastianich, the mega-successful celebrity chef and entrepreneur. I don't know why -- I personally find the whole celebrity chef thing kind of boring. But there's something about Lidia, like Julia Child before her, that makes me a fan.

My fandom comes, I imagine, from a pure and genuine love of food and the connection that both of them exude. They're in this business for the food, for the art of cooking -- not for the money or the fame. Lidia spent decades as a succesful chef and restaurant owner, long before fame found her, and that hard work and learned expertise shines through in her TV shows and cook books.

Lidia's life story if amazing -- born in Istria which was actually part of the old Yugoslavia, her family moved to Italy and eventually America. They settled in Astoria, and her first job was at Walken's bakery -- where she became friends with the owner's kid Christopher, who grew up to be a famous actor. She worked at and opened restaurants in NYC, eventually becoming the rich and famous celebrity that she is today.

She's a real American success story.

I remember the first time I saw Lidia on TV -- it was one of her PBS cooking shows and she was casually making a veal scallopini. Inspired, I decided to make it for my mom and her friend -- the recipe I followed was great, my mom and her friend loved it (I also served it with a penne vodka which Lidia recommended). However, making veal scallopini is exhausting, it's required lots of fancy maneurvering with hot pans and I also burned the kitchen down.

Yet I remain a fan. 

Eataly

Today I finally made it to Eataly, the Italian food court/supermarket in Madison Square. This place opened recently to much acclaim, and it really is a great addition to the culinary scene in NYC.

Like Italy itself, Eataly is exciting, beautiful, and totally disorganized.

There are multiple entrances. You can enter either on 23rd street, which leads into the main supermarket part of the store, or you can enter on 5th Avenue, which takes you into the gelateria. We went in via 23rd street, and the moment you enter, you encounter boxes of Italian cookies stacked on the side walls. Here you can also pick up a big basket or a small cart for your shopping convenience. When you enter the store proper, you come upon a sumptuous grocery market, with beautiful fruits and vegetables on display. Here you can get the basics, along with exotic mushrooms. Going through this section, you find yourself in a mad scene. Walking around, you find a ham counter. A cheese counter. A pork counter. A meat counter. A bread counter. Then there are rows and rows and rows and rows and rows of pastas, sauces, vinegars, olive oils, preserves, more cheeses, more meats, more everything! The food ranges from the modest and modestly priced to the more extravagant and expensive. There's also a section where you can buy guienue Italian cooking wares along with cookbooks. 

And this is just where you can shop.

Eataly also has multiple restaurants. The one I went to is called La Pizza and Pasta where, shockingly enough, they serve only pizza and pasta. But of course they also sell delicious wine by the glass and they pour it at your table. There are other restaurants, ranging from the modest to the more expensive, and you can check them all out on the Eataly website -- I would exhaust myself if I tried to describe them all.

In fact, exhausting is what best describes Eataly. There is just so much food you can buy, so many places you can eat, so much stuff you can get, that you can't possibly check it all out in one visit. I didn't get to spend much time at the coffee bar or in the bakery, nor did I check out Eataly Vino, the wine store that has its own separate entrance on 23rd street. But this place is really a trip, great experience, the kind of place that makes you grateful to live in NYC. 

If you love Italian food, then you must check out Eataly. Just make sure you wear comfortable shoes and give yourself a lot of time. 

Two postscripts:

1. The supermarkets and restaurants at Eataly blend into each other. You'll be walking through some aisles of food and suddenly find yourself in an area surrounded by tables and chairs and waiters. If you want to sit down, don't! Make sure you find (and it can be a little tricky), the host or hostess who will put you on a list. This is a very popular, crowded place and you'll probably have to wait 20 minutes for a table. Probably best to put your name down, do some browsing, and then come back when your table is ready.

2. Eataly was createad by PBS cooking host Lidia Bastianich whose appearance on WNYC last year with Christopher Walken I blogged about in September. This woman is a culinary genius.

Chris and Lidia: Food, Show Business, and Nostalgia

A couple of week ago, the always great WNYC interview Leonard Lopate had a surprise guest host -- legendary, Oscar-winning actor Christopher Walken. Walken needs no introduction: he is one of the most beloved, amazing actors of his generation. He has made many great movies (Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, True Romance, Pulp Fiction, Catch Me If You Can), has had career on stage (he recently appeared on Broadway and, did you know that he started as song and dance man in musicals?), and even music videos. He is also a frequent guest host of Saturday Night Live and crafted a couple of great characters -- "the Continental" and the music producer always screaming "More cowbell!" Imitating Christopher Walken has practically become a cottage industry -- Kevin Spacey, Jay Mohr and others have received acclaim pretending to be him -- that he will be remembered forever.

By the way, did you know Walken has been married to the same woman for 40+, casting agent Georgianne who casted The Sopranos? And that his mother recently died at age 104? Pretty amazing.

Recently, during Walken's hosting gig he interviewed a bunch of people including restaurateur/TV cooking host Lidia Bastianich. Both grew up in Queens in the 1950s and have knew each other back then (Lidia actually worked in Walken's Bakery in Astoria, owned by Chris's family). In this wonderful interview, they talk about their families and lives growing up back then and Chris talks about his family's bakery and how he used to work in the back. Lidia talks a lot about her career and her memories of Chris's family and they are joined by Lidia's adorable mama who shares her memories of Chris's dad and what a great, hard-working man he man. You don't hear a lot of interviews like this so it's something really special. Enjoy.