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And besides the beasts of the field and the fishes of the sea, yesterday offered what must be the biggest herd of media people I’ve ever seen assembled in one place. I was actually there hours earlier, for the chance to interview the principals ahead of time (watch for all that after the holiday), and when I got to Eataly at 9:30 AM it was a construction war zone—much drilling and hammering, trash piled here and there, city inspectors poking about. Within an hour or two the 63,000-square-foot space was being cleared, fresh food being laid out in cases and prepped for serving, and by 12:30 PM, though it wasn’t strictly ready for business—maps of what to put where were still taped to many shelves, and some items were, the manager admitted, still on boats from Italy—it was ready enough to be entrancing. And to let us all gorge ourselves on Neapolitan pizza and hamachi crudo and truffle-shaved tartare and deep-fried bread soup balls.
