Openings

Eataly Is Definitely Coming to Chicago. Just Not Sure Where Else.

Was it ever confirmed that Eataly, the massive Italian market in New York from Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali, was coming to Chicago? It seems to have moved straight from rumor to accepted fact without an official announcement ever happening. Curiously, both Bastianich and Batali turned up in interviews yesterday saying that it was a for-sure thing, and so is a second branch of Lupa in Hong Kong. Where they differ is on what happens after that: Bastianich in a very tart interview at Bon Appetit says the next stop will be Los Angeles, while Batali in Time Out Hong Kong says the fourth Eataly (New York is actually the second; the original’s in Torino) will be in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Anyway, we’re sure that at some point, the Eataly-in-Chicago hype machine will be operating at a little higher level of intensity than these offhand mentions.

Eataly Is Definitely Coming to Chicago. Just Not Sure Where Else.