Flatiron Lunch: A Look at Eataly’s Lunch Options

Since most of you will be ditching out of work tomorrow (but not me, thanks boss!), it seemed like a good idea to bump Flatiron Lunch up a day. Enjoy!

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You might recall reading about Mario Batali’s new mega-market Eataly here in Flatiron Lunch a month or so back. Or maybe you read about it here or here or maybe you caught Eater’s live-blogging of the opening Tuesday night. I passed through opening night to scout out this Big New Thing, and as you can imagine the place was packed. What I didn’t quite expect was that there would be lines out the door at lunchtime the next day!

Who has time to stand in line just to get into this place, and then meander through the cavernous space trying to figure out if anything’s worthy of being considered a Midtown Lunch? So… I figured I’d do it for you.

Eataly’s Midtown Lunch’ish options (plus a splurge or two) are after the jump.


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If you’ve glanced at the menus, you know that a lot of the ‘restaurant’ areas break the $10 mark even for appetizers. But, even though this is a place where you can drop $75 on a beef tasting menu that includes Calf’s Brain Mezzalune and Grilled Beef Heart and Tongue Spiedino, there are still some options for those of us who aren’t looking to break the bank.

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The quickest, easiest option for a luncher will be the sandwiches at the Panini counter. Serving hot and cold sandwiches using bread from the in-house bakery and the same quality meats that you can get at the charcuterie counter, the price tags of $6-8 start to seem more reasonable. Even if they are a bit small, they certainly look better than the crappy flatbread sandwiches you get at Guy and Gallard.

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The menu will change regularly and include specials made up of leftover ingredients from the other areas of Eataly, including the amazing looking rotisserie area.

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The rotisserie is really what has me excited about this place. This week they will just be serving whole roasted chickens, but once the counter area is finished up and the carving space is available, they will be roasting lamb and porchetta as well. It reminds me of the Roli Roti truck Zack clamored for last year after his trip to San Francisco. I missed out on it when I was there in June, so I’m extra excited to have it available 10 blocks from my office.

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The chicken is selling for $2.95 a pound, which means that a whole roaster will probably cost just under or around $10 for a whole chicken. It may be slightly more than you’ll find at Tio Pio or Whole Foods, but again, it looks amazing.

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It’s tragic that the pizzas are outside of the $10 price cap (except for one cheeseless pizza, which I’m not even going to count). That doesn’t mean I won’t be trying out one of the dozen plus pizza options with their tasty looking in-house toppings or maybe a calzone.  And they’re already Slice approved.

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They even have some fancy white tablecloth dining available for the occasional expense account lunch.
There’s plenty more to be said about Eataly, but since everyone else is all over it, we’ll let the rest of the internets talk about that for a while and check back in in a couple months – maybe for happy hour when the beer garden opens up.

Eataly, 200 5th Avenue at 23rd Street.

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