Downtown`s New Culinary Destinations

Downtown's New Culinary Destinations
EATALY AND LE DISTRICT, BOTH A SHORT WALK FROM 30 PARK PLACE, OFFER
SOME OF NEW YORK CITY'S MOST EXTENSIVE GOURMET GOODS.
“Entering Eataly, a
mélange of Italian
cookery aromas delight
the senses.”
With the arrival of gourmet Italian food hall Eataly and
its French counterpart, Le District, locals in the
neighborhood now have access to some of the best dining
and marketplace shopping in the city.
Eataly's outpost on the third floor at 4 World Trade
Center, the company's second New York City location,
boasts 40,000 square feet of Italian delights. Much like
its highly popular original emporium in the Flatiron
District, which was opened just over five years ago by
Oscar Farinetti, Mario Batali, and Lidia and Joe
Bastianich, it includes to-go options and fine dining
restaurants, as well as fresh and dry products. Entering
Eataly, a mélange of Italian cookery aromas delight the
senses with hints of garlic, extra virgin olive oil, fresh
truffles, and Napoli-style pizza just out of the oven. The
market is bustling with shoppers hunting for their
favorite fusilli pasta or white sturgeon caviar, and others
are lounging by the gelato bar or sipping espresso. A few
steps away, guests are busy buying panini and pizzas to go
for lunch.
“We want Le District to first and foremost be a
place for the neighborhood residents, and they're
going to sometimes need certain products for
which there is no readily available French
substitute. Our goal is always to be inclusive
rather than exclusive.”
"We also looked to famous markets in France and around the world. With Le District, we wanted to create
the feel of an open-air market in an indoor space."
Inside the market, the heart of Le District, there's la boucherie, la charcuterie, la rôtisserie, la
poissonnerie, la fromagerie, la boulangerie, and la fleuriste.
The nearby Garden District has hyper-local fresh produce, daily essentials, and seasonal French fare,
where visitors can pick up salads and prepared foods to go. The steak, cooked on the spot for take-out, has
proved to be one of the most popular offerings. Coffee, chocolates, and sweet French treats are available at
the Café District.
"Not all products are from France," according to the HPH team. "We have a very nice mixture of imports,
U.S. products, and items from the NYC metro area. We didn't want to be too dogmatic:
The epicurean options at Eataly are not only high in quality but incredibly diverse. In addition to the huge
assortment of Italian kitchen staples on offer, from panettone to arrabbiata sauce to pastas (gluten-free
and kosher options included), Eataly houses an excellent collection of cookbooks, housewares, and gifts.
Alternatively, Brookfield Place houses a new Parisian-style, 30,000-square-foot market known as Le
District. Like Eataly, Le District has a fresh grocery and market, restaurants, and food-specific stands.
"The division of the marketplace into different districts was influenced by the streets of Paris, where the
neighborhoods are often broken down and referred to by the type of good you go there to buy [Le District
is a translation of 'arrondissement']," says Peter Poulakakos, Paul Lamas, and Laurent Vasseur of HPH
restaurant group, the team behind Le District.
“With Le District, we
wanted to create the feel
of an open-air market in
an indoor space.”
"French cuisine has had such an enormous culinary influence on the world, and we really wanted to
showcase not only cuisine from France itself, but from other Francophone nations that each have their
own unique culinary identities. Our inspirations include the cities and vast countryside of France, but also
countries and regions that have interacted with its culture, from New Orleans to Senegal, Quebec to
Martinique and Belgium," says HPH.
We want Le District to first and foremost be a place for the neighborhood residents, and they're going to
sometimes need certain products for which there is no readily available French substitute. Our goal is
always to be inclusive rather than exclusive. With chefs and influences from all over the world, including
European and Francophone countries, we would be amiss to not have the best of the best products,
wherever they're from, on our shelves."
For guests looking for a full dining experience, there is Beaubourg and L'Appart in the Restaurant District.
Beaubourg features French classics like steak frites by chefs Fabrice Renaudin and Nicolas Abello. The
more intimate, 28-seat L'Appart offers a seasonal tasting menu by chef Jordi Vallès, who also serves as the
culinary director for all of Le District and previously worked at the acclaimed El Bulli in Spain.
KRISTIN TICE- STUDEMAN
JASON SCHMIDT
WORDS
PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO
Next — at Home
EATALY
LE DISTRICT
4 WO R L D T R A D E C E N T E R , N E W YO R K , N Y
2 2 5 L I B E R T Y S T R E E T, N E W Y O R K , N Y
( 2 1 2 ) 2 2 9 - 2 5 6 0 ; E A T A LY. C O M
( 2 1 2 ) 9 8 1 - 8 5 8 8 ; L E D I S T R I C T. C O M
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