Midtown Market to Come Direct From Italy

Tired of Whole Foods?
Has the novelty of Trader Joe's worn off?
New Yorkers will soon have a new food store to obsess over. Italian food superstore Eataly is set open a scaled down U.S. version this spring at 18 West 48th street. The two level, 10,000 square foot store will be but a precursor to a global chain of superstores designed to recreate the experience of the hugely popular 30,000 square foot original in Turin, Italy, which is touted as the world's biggest food and wine market.
Described by today's New York Times as a combination of "a bustling European open market, a Whole-Foods-style supermarket, a high-end food court and a New Age learning center", Eataly chief Oscar Farinetti plans to do for Italian food what Ikea has done for cheap Swedish furniture. If you think that the smaller store will be a pale representation of the original, just have some patience because Farinetti has secured a Meatpacking District location to replicate his main store in 2011.
We're hungry already.
Spacious Food Bazaar in Turin Plans Manhattan Branch (NYTimes)
Eataly (Official Site)