It's officially September, which means the end of Summer, the beginning of another school year and time to put away your favorite white pants (and espadrilles, and linen tops and breezy sundresses.... sigh). While it may be the end of everyones favorite season, it's the beginning of something new, and actually the time of year that I generally look forward to most. Fall always feels refreshing, doesn't it?
Anyway, all that to say that last Thursday night I met a friend for a lovely, pre-Fall Birreria night, and it was fabulous. I hadn't yet been to the rooftop restaurant that is attached to Mario Batali's Eataly, and since the weather was insanely gorgeous – still warm enough but without Summer's humidity – it seemed like the perfect choice. Because it's attached to Eataly, which is constantly crowded with both New Yorkers and tourists, the wait to get a table on the roof is usually pretty long (ours was a little over an hour) so don't get there expecting to go straight up. Those elevators to the roof are coveted and highly guarded by the no-funny-business hostesses. However, it's attachment to Eataly proves beneficial in that you can spend your wait time perusing the store or enjoying a glass of wine (or doing both at the same time as Eataly is one of the only grocery stores I've ever encountered that allows you to sip wine while loading your shopping basket with pasta and cheese – major plus!). Obviously, we chose to drink while waiting, so we ended up standing at a tall table in the middle of the store and ordering a few glasses of vino. Not surprisingly, the hour seemed to pass pretty quickly.
Once the iPad wielding hostess texted us that our table was ready on the roof (so tech-savvy), we headed upstairs and were led to the perfect two-person table on the perimeter of the space. As I mentioned, the weather could not have been nicer and we were already primed with alcohol, so we were truly happy campers. Along with more wine, we ordered a kale salad, quail (a sampling first!) and fried shiitake mushrooms with sage (OMG). Everything was super tasty and we waved goodbye to Summer feeling happy, full and little bit drunk, leaving me with the feeling that this Fall is going to be a good one...
enjoying the view from Eataly's Birreria
