Eataly Los Angeles

When Italian gourmet supermarket Eataly opened its first U.S. location in New York City’s Flatiron district back in 2010, it was an instant sensation, featuring imported ingredients on the ground floor, a beautiful charcuterie and beer bar on the roof, plus countless wines, freshly made Roman and Neapolitan pizzas, and fantastic homemade desserts in between. Sure, there were other places to get Italian sweets, but at Eataly, you could find Piedmont hazelnut-laden chocolate bark next to limoncello cakes and 50 other choices, ready to eat or take home. At the time, the 42,500-square foot market was described as “the largest artisanal Italian food and wine marketplace in the world,” and its success spawned additional stores in Chicago, Las Vegas, Dallas, Boston, and elsewhere in New York.

Located inside the Westfield Century City mall, Eataly Los Angeles is the brand’s largest U.S. location – 67,000-square feet – and feels its size, starting with a ground floor collection of gelato, Lavazza coffee, and cooking class spaces, continuing upward to a full supermarket with multiple restaurants, and finishing with an outdoor terrace dining area somewhat similar to Flatiron’s rooftop bar. Unlike the Chicago store, which is also larger than Flatiron but not quite LA’s size, none of the space here feels wasted or locally misplaced: especially during holidays, there appears to be an audience hungry for everything Eataly stocks, including imported Japanese A5 Wagyu beef, whole fish, and Italian imports ranging from boxed cakes and cookies, to soda and liquor bottles.