Yesterday I visited EATALY for the first time, the new food emporium of Mario Batali…..what an experience! The line at the front door was the reminiscent of Studio 54: who would be chic enough to get past that velvet rope from a line stretched around onto 5th Avenue? I had to negotiate hard, explaining a friend was inside seated at a table waiting for me. That explanation was not good enough. I put on my svelte sunglasses and pretended to be uber-chic….that helped.

Inside was a truly cavernous melange of incredible displays of every imaginable food type….fresh fish, vegetables, ice cream, books, wine….EVERYTHING ITALIAN. The presentation is beautiful, although a bit chaotic with the drones of people everywhere. For anyone on vacation its a dream come true. For anyone wanting a gastronomic escape on a rainy day, its amazing. Real Estate wise it fuels the neighborhood around Madison Square Park to the point where I would estimate values will rise 5%….easily. The service is super-slow, almost bad, but this is to be expected at the very beginning. they had better work on it hard before they lose repeat business though.

Leonard Steinberg, managing director of Prudential Douglas Elliman and author of the LUXURYLETTER says: “Overall it’s a winner!”