Veritasty: Truthfully Delicious

Today, I had a beautiful lunch at Otto Enoteca Pizzeria and it made me realize and appreciate how life-changing good Italian food can be.   In pictures ripped from my Instagram: We had a few cheeses to start, accompanied by my favorite truffle honey .  Gladly, no one else in my dining party was such a fan, so I hogged the whole dish and proceeded to drizzle it on absolutely everything!  I had a delicious arugula prosciutto pizza, which oddly means I had pizza a grand total of four times this week (and lasagna twice more...YOLO).  In hindsight, I'm in awe of the fact that I had Italian food so frequently this week by some random coincidences, but it's all been delizioso . Posts from our other Italian eating adventures to come!

" One of my favorite places in the world is Italy.  One of my favorite places in New York City is Eataly." How I started my previous post about Eataly , the massive food emporium across the street from Madison Square Park and the Flatiron Building.  Eataly has multiple stellar restaurants, including a rooftop restaurant/beer garden called Birreria. Although a trip to Birreria is perfect on those lazy summer evenings, they apparently invested in some heat lamps so you can enjoy the beer flowing all year long. A lazy summer evening to Birreria also ensures you will be drinking and dining with a huge audience of people, though. When we visited, the bar was extremely crowded and noisy with the after-work corporate crowd.  I had a glass of prosecco at the bar (wine list curated by Joe Bastianich) and a sip of the locally-brewed cask ale beer.  By locally-brewed, I mean they brew beer in big ol' tanks beside the restaurant and serve out of giant barrels beh...

One of my favorite places in the world is Italy.  One of my favorite places in New York City is Eataly. Eataly is a sprawling establishment across from Madison Square Park that contains several restaurants, an enormous marketplace, and a cooking school.  It was the brain child of Mario Batali, intended to be like a European food hall . Usually, I'd be a bit cynical about projects that intend to turn American things into European institutions, but two thumbs up to Mario Batali and the Eataly team because it is really just spectacular. One of the best things right up at the front of the store is the gelateria.  Alex and I contend that Eataly's gelato is the best in the city... perhaps even good enough to rival the gelato in Italy .  I've had plenty of gelato in Italy, and while nothing has really disappointed, few were memorable as the gelato in Eataly. Interestingly, at Eataly, one scoop in a cone is cheaper than one scoop in a cup! They have a smal...

As fate would have it, last week I basically met Mario Batali. Met his gaze, that is.  I was walking to campus when I saw an unusual sight stopped at a traffic light.  I promise you, it was the orange Crocs that I saw first.  Then the orange helmet.  And that sexy green Vespa!  It had to be Mario Batali!  And, as I walked in the crosswalk no more than 5 feet in front of him, we totally made eye contact.  Actually just last night by pure coincidence, I watched A Day in the Life: Mario Batali.  He explained his philosophy behind food and even though it sounds a little cliche and cheesy, it was basically: to use simple, fresh ingredients to cook things people wouldn't normally make at home.   Today, Alex surprised me with an after-8-hours-in-lab dinner at Otto Enoteca Pizzeria, one of Mario Batali's restaurants in New York City.  We've eaten here before, last summer when we all looked kind of like little...