I’m going to go ahead and admit that I’ve fallen victim to the boredom of summer television and have succumbed to watching Master Chef despite the fact that I could just as easily turn the TV off and read a book, gaze at the stars or actually…you know…talk to my husband. The truth is that half the time it’s too buggy to sit outside at night, half the time I don’t wanna read until I’m in bed, half the time my husband is too busy playing the guitar to hold a conversation with, and half the time I’m bad with fractions. And what I discovered after watching a few episodes of the latest Gordon Ramsay escapade is that either Joe Bastianich is a total douche, or he’s coming off like one because of very clever and intentional editing—the goal perhaps being to make Ramsay look slightly more compassionate. And this all took me by surprise because I’m quite possibly the #1 fan of the Batali/Bastianich empire here in New York City, and given what a cool, approachable (i.e. non-douche) Batali has always been, I didn’t figure he’d be partners with someone who comes across like the human version of a thick, green, mucousy snot you can’t wait to rid yourself of, but then can’t help but stare at once you get it out.

But I’m babbling because technically this isn’t a review of the show…it’s about the child-like, uncontainable anticipation I’ve got for the latest Batali/Bastianich endeavor—an emporium called Eataly. The name alone is genius. I have countless daydreams of eating Italy, and there’s absolutely no downside to that. Glorious, still-warm buffalo mozzarella melting in my mouth, chased by a slice of guanciale and a sip of wine; skipping like a stone on the water’s surface, from butcher to baker to…uhh…Italian beer maker. Yeah, from what I understand, there’s going to be a rooftop beer garden on this place with skyline views year round, apparently a collaboration with brew masters from Dogfish Head, Russian River Brewing, Birrifico Le Baladin and Birra del Borgo. 50,000 square feet of Italian goodness, including a steakhouse, a pizzeria, a cooking school, a wine bar, a bookshop, and stores that sell everything from porcini to prosciutto. Excuse me while I wipe the very unlady-like drool from my chin.

Here’s some of what you’ll be able to find there, if you get there (200 Fifth Avenue, between 23rd and 24th). Frankly, if you’re half the foodie you think you are, a small road trip should never be out of the question for a slice of Italian gluttony. It opens this coming Tuesday, and I’m planning on waiting a week or so and then heading in with an empty stomach, a loaded wallet and a map—a more precarious position to put myself in than leaving Rush Limbaugh alone behind a pharmacy counter…

Café – A Lavazza coffee bar, and other counters specializing in panini, Venchi chocolate, house-made gelato and desserts by popular pastry chef Luca Montersino, who will whip up everything from apple strudel to “mini dolci” like amaretto mousse with moscato.

Miscellaneous Marketplace – There will be sections dedicated to jarred Italian specialty items like olive oils, tomato sauces and antipasti, dairy, cookies and snacks, tea and coffee, chocolate, fruits and jams and Italian water and beer.

Le Verdure (vegetables) - The dishes at this eatery will showcase locally sourced produce at the height of the season, including stinging nettle lasagna with pesto and bechamel, pappa al pomodoro (tomato and bread soup) and warm vegetable salad with chicory, radicchio and escarole.

Vegetable Butcher – Jennifer Rubell will wash, cut and clean vegetables that you purchase at no charge. The produce section will feature only seasonal, locally grown vegetables.

Salumi e Formaggi (salumi and cheese) – Everything from prosciutto di Parma to grana padano, sliced at the counter or packaged to grab and go.

Il Pesce (fish) – Esca chef David Pasternack’s daily-changing menu will be driven by the best the market has to offer—from fish cooked simply with olive oil and lemon to a Ligurian-style seafood salad, rounded out by seasonal sides. There will also be a fish monger.

Manzo (meat) – The only restaurant in Eataly with a reservation policy (and an official name) this Italian steakhouse helmed by former Babbo sous-chef Michael Toscano will offer antipasti, dry-aged steaks and American-sourced La Razza Piemontese, a unique breed of cattle low in saturated fat. A specialty of the house is carne crudo. There will also be a beef tasting menu, a full bar and outdoor seating.

La Scuola – A small school headed up by dean Lidia Bastianich, who will occasionally teach classes. There will be seminars with artisans, chefs and winemakers that culminate in special dinners, as well as those that focus on the nutrition, sociology and chemistry of food. Classes will begin in October.

Butcher – Both American and Italian cuts of meat will be available. There is also a section for roasted meats.

La Pizza/La Pasta - A corner of Eataly will be dedicated to pasta and pizza, with mezzanine seating to accommodate overflow. Rossopomodoro, a Naples-based restaurant group, is importing two wood-burning pizza ovens—and the pizzaiolos to run them—to turn out authentic, wood-fired Neapolitan pies using fresh mozzarella made daily in-house. There will also be traditional preparations of pasta, both dried and fresh, a smattering of salads and appetizers, and a takeout window on East 24th Street.

Piazza – This wine bar will serve dishes from stations dedicated to raw seafood, Italian cured meats and cheeses and fresh mozzarella made daily on the premises using milk from Battenkill Valley Creamery.

Bread – “We’re going to have the best bread in Manhattan,” says Joe Bastianich of the loaves baked daily in a wood-fired oven. American baker Nancy Silverton will oversee an array of foccacia.

Crudo (raw bar) – Stock up on raw delights, while getting a front-row seat to the chef as he prepares dishes.

Bookstore – A partnership with Rizzoli, this culinary corner is primarily dedicated to cookbooks focusing on Italian food and wine.

Housewares – Expect shelves stocked with high-design household items from Alessi and Guzzini, cookware from Sambonet, espresso makers from Bialetti and more.

Wine Store – This shop will sell only Italian wine, including those from the Bastianich vineyards.

*All photos property of Serious Eats.

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Any man who quotes Anaïs Nin in a book about wine automatically gets bonus Gonzo points from me, and if in same said book he’s got wordplay with Blue Öyster Cult lyrics, well I develop a crush that tends to sway me to overlook the fact that I needed to keep a dictionary handy while reading his book, despite being a wordsmith myself, because I’ve simply never had cause to use words like ecumenical or pusillanimous. Terry Theise, iconic importer and rock star wannabe, will be the first to tell you that “there’s a lot of lousy prose and shallow thinking out there” in the world of wine writing, but his is as far removed from that sad description as wine writing can possibly get, and I’m thankful for it.

My bookshelves are burdened down with tomes about wine. They’re bowed with the weight of books given biblical status for their wealth of information and books that serve as little more than romantic memoirs about wine-soaked lives. But there are very few—in fact only one other I can think of besides this, Nossiter’s Liquid Memory—that exist as visceral dissertations on what wine does…move us. Theise’s new book, Reading Between the Wines, speaks of wine having the capability of being a portal to the mystic, and his conviction to this end is utterly seductive. There were points when I found myself reading his proselytizing out on my deck well past twilight, sometimes laughing out loud, sometimes nodding in passionate agreement, and other times lost in his candor. It’s no small coincidence that Terry describes taking wine-tasting notes as often being obtrusive when you are engaged in what you’ve just experienced, because I felt the same about trying to take notes while reading this book—“it’s like ignoring a rainbow so you can balance your checkbook.”

Theise’s argument for terroir is impeccable, and one that I imagine would convince even the most hardened New Worlders to bend with the breeze, if only because his argument is sound…logical…clear. He manages to straddle the murky fault line between spirit and substance—between ethos, pathos and logos—and he manages to do it while jibing you about Chateau Bluebols at the same time. I imagine Terry to be the kind of guy that makes you feel like a complete dickhead for being lulled into complacency by the gears of the wine industry, and then consoles you as you lick your wounds by offering you a glass of the most delicate, mind-blowing riesling you’ve ever let pass your lips. For the limited amount of time we have in our lives to imbibe, it begs the question, why drink what doesn’t move you? Why drink the enological equivalent of white noise? His rhetoric is both compelling and convincing.

I have but one gripe with Reading Between the Wines and that is its forced linearity for a style of writing that is otherwise so intrinsically organic. It’s like taking an e.e. cummings poem, dissecting it and cramming that dissection into an eighth-grade lit class outline. At times, Terry’s views were broken down into a sort of laundry list, and that sacrificed some of the book’s “naturalness” in my opinion, but that’s probably also partly me being a pain in the ass after one too many glasses of nowhere wine. In all honesty, when I read his description of a red Burgundy, “If truffles had orgasms, they might emit this fragrance” I’m nearly certain my schoolgirl crush kicked in, and I probably just started looking for any reason to find flaw with Theise so that the spell would be broken. Reading Between the Wines is easily the most passionate, poetic, and necessary book on wine I’ve ever read, and it ended all way too soon.

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WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: “Could we have kippers for breakfast, mummy dear, mummy dear…”

by Katie Pizzuto August 18, 2010
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“Close to you baby as a pig is to poke…”

by Katie Pizzuto August 12, 2010
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When the bacon-on-everything fad has long gone (and believe me, it will go), I’ll still be the one hoarding my rendered bacon fat, smoking my own pork belly and baking my own pig candy—as certain as death and taxes. But I’m the first to admit that I’m pretty giddy about bacon being ubiquitous right now, [...]

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WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: “Things on your chest you need to confess…”

by Katie Pizzuto August 4, 2010
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“Who is it and where are you from?…”

by Katie Pizzuto August 3, 2010
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I was reminded yesterday of what elusive element it was that made me fall incorrigibly in love with wine a couple of decades ago, and what that element means to me today with the oceans-worth of wines that are out there being made. Wine writers, makers and marketers often throw around the word terroir as [...]

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WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: “There’s a reason for the warm sweet nights…”

by Katie Pizzuto July 28, 2010
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“I’ll meet you any time you want in our Italian restaurant…”

by Katie Pizzuto July 26, 2010
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Over all, I’m not one who tends to frequent Italian restaurants that haven’t been personally recommended by someone that knows my lack of enthusiasm towards them…especially those that cater towards the American “bastardization” of Italian dishes…and especially those in New Jersey. As luck (or lack thereof) would have it, I ate at two last week, [...]

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“Today is born the seventh one…”

by Katie Pizzuto July 21, 2010
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Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger put forth a bit of a challenge for bloggers a few days ago that I thought might be worth doing, despite the fact that I’m not usually one for memes…only one that’s kinda stuck with me is Wordless Wednesday, and though you’d think that one only sticks because I’ve got [...]

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“Make ya holler for a dollar, that’s the way I pimp…”

by Katie Pizzuto July 20, 2010
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Go ahead and file these under strange, idiotic and/or insulting PR emails that I get as a food/wine blogger. While I certainly want readers to stay on top of trends, learn about new products and be turned on to things they’ve never tried, sometimes the press releases are laughable, making me wonder if any bloggers [...]

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