La Birreria at Eataly
You may recall my blog from last February when I took you on a tour or Eataly, the food lovers’ paradise devoted to the food and culinary traditions of Italy, located in Manhattan at Fifth Avenue and Twenty-Third Street. It is a collaboration between Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich, and Lidia Bastianich of Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group and original Eataly founder Oscar Farinetti. I am happy to report that Eataly’s much anticipated rooftop beer garden, La Birreria, is finally open for business and I attended the really fun opening celebration on June 2nd. The house beer selections are a collaboration between Birreria’s brew master, Brooks Carretta, Dogfish Head of Delaware, Birra Baladin of Piedmont, and Birra del Borgo of Rome. Other refreshing craft beers, both Italian and American are served, as well as red and white wines. The food choices are a robust and flavorful and pair with beer quite nicely. There’s something quite wonderful about sitting on a rooftop in Manhattan sipping a really good glass of beer.
1 Here I am at the opening of La Birreria with Mario Batali, Oscar Farinetti - Eataly’s founder and one of the owners/partners of Eataly New York, and Lidia Bastianich.
2 Mario and me
3 Here I am with Lidia
4 Kevin Sharkey, Sophie Herbert - my niece http://sophieherbert.com/, and Mario
5 Sophie, Mario, Joe Bastianich, and Lidia
6 And of course, people taking pictures of me taking pictures!
7 The crowd at the opening enjoyed a sit-down meal.
8 Looking east, there is a wonderful view of the iconic 22-floor Flatiron building, completed in 1902.
9 There's also a great view of the Metlife Tower completed in 1909. It was the tallest building in the world until 1913, when the Woolworth Building was completed.
10 I visited La Birreria during the day on a subsequent visit.
11 This rooftop beer garden has become a popular destination for food and drink.
12 The retractable roof was partially closed because of threatening weather.
13 A better view of the spectacular Flatiron with its rounded prow-like front and triangular shape
14 The Empire State Building is seen looking north.
15 The beverage menu features the highest quality cask beers, draft beers, bottled beers, and assorted wines.
16 The beer is served through traditional hand pumps, at just the perfect temperature.
17 La Birreria's own brews are served in Teku glasses designed by Teo Musso, a collaborating brewmaster.
18 There are many wonderful draft choices.
19 Wines are served directly from the cask and Friulano and Vespa Bianco are from the Bastianich Winery.
20 Wines are served by the glass or two sizes of carafe.
21 Big fans provide a cooling breeze.
22 And cold beer provides a satisfying drink.
23 Thirsty?
24 These are the three house beers, which will soon be made right at La Birreria.
25 The food menu features creations inspired by family-style feasts of an Italy influenced by Austria and Germany.
26 Crusty bread wrapped and ready to be served.
27 Yum!
28 A dish of fruity extra-virgin olive oil awaits dipping.
29 This salad is called Tritata - Romaine, potato, fried chickpeas, hot cherry peppers, salumi, cucumbers, red onion, black olives, pecorino, with a red wine vinaigrette.
30 A salad called Cavolo Nero Con Salsa - chopped mixed kale, grapefruit, poppy seed frico, with an anchovy vinaigrette
31 A board of speck - smoked prosciutto from Alto-Adige
32 And a board of salumi - speck, sopressata, mortadella, cacciatorini, and coppa
33 Pollo Con Pesto di Olive Verde - Pennsylvania chicken thigh with a green olive-almond pesto and wilted greens.
34 Bistecca Con Salsa Verde - Donley Ranch (KS) skirt steak with salsa verde
35 Bratwurst - Südtirol inspired veal, pork, and caraway served with mustard and krauti
36 A serving of tangy krauti
37 And a serving of colorful pickled vegetables
38 Formaggi - Bleu del Moncenisio, Ricotta Fresca, Robiola Bosina, Pecorino Toscano, and Pecorino Fiore Sardo
39 The cheese is served with thick and rich honey.
40 This is the copper-clad brewery set behind glass, which will be operating very soon.
41 Beer kegs at the ready
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
Martha, picture #2 is a very good picture of you and Mario. On a personal note, your arms appear to be very toned. Mine look like the skin is falling off the bone.:( Any advice?
I really like the building in picture # 13. It is spectacular!!!!
Your niece is beautiful, as always, and everyone looks to be having a great time.
I watch Lidia's Italy on PBS all the time.
Thnks for the roof-top tour.
Gloria G!!
Posted by: Gloria | June 29th, 2011 at 12:23 am
Martha, you did particulary nice job with the photography for this post.
Posted by: Sarah | June 29th, 2011 at 1:41 am
Hi Martha,
It looks like a fun place with a great view and especially at night. I like picture #6 of people taking pictures of you taking pictures. haha I can imagine that you sometimes get tired of having your picture taken. It would bother me - I run when I see a camera. I'm about to watch you on the Today show so have a great day. Trish
Posted by: Trish | June 29th, 2011 at 8:39 am
I'll have to stop by La Birreria the next time I'm in the city. It looks like a fun place to meet with friends. The Flatiron District is a favorite haunt of mine. I attended SVA, which is in this great neighborhood too.
Posted by: Al | June 29th, 2011 at 9:10 am
Hi Martha, WOW! What a super duper addition to Eataly! The La Birreria looks like a superb place to go to there in NYC! Your blog post about Eataly back in February was fantastic and this one about La Birreria is fantastic+!! These photos are so much fun to view and everyone there looks extremely happy! Loved seeing Mario, Lidia, Oscar, Joe, Sharkey, and Sophie having a great time there!!!!!! The photos of you are outstanding! How fun it would be to visit that delightful new place-will have to add it to my long list of great places to visit in NYC! Thanks for sharing the website for Eataly and La Birreria at Eataly!! Also, thanks for the delightful twitpics this morning about you new visit to the Today Show-will see you in about an hour and a half! Continue to have a terrific day today! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | June 29th, 2011 at 10:03 am
Beautiful skyline. After a couple of beers I would hope I could find my way down from the garden. I know I would not want to leave with fresh air, fans, food and conversation.
Posted by: Margie | June 29th, 2011 at 12:58 pm
Hi Martha,
U have slimmed down a lot, and fresh like a ROSE
Posted by: ParvathyVictor | June 29th, 2011 at 1:12 pm
You look great, Martha. Nice review.
Posted by: Rosemary Dempsey | June 29th, 2011 at 1:23 pm
Hi again Martha,
I thought as long as you are on the topic of beer I would take this opportunity to thank you for posting details of your Grilling Special and especially where to buy the porcelain chicken sitter stand. I found the info you posted here: http://www.marthastewart.com/show/grilling-secrets-of-the-master-chefs
~
And I purchased the stand here:
http://www.bbqproshop.com/tools/poultry.html
~
I think there were three choices to use for checking out so I chose Amazon. It was a $2.00 off sale too! Now I can't wait to grill a beer can chicken. Trish
Posted by: Trish | June 29th, 2011 at 1:56 pm
You rock Martha! What fun/
Posted by: Lisa Boisvert Mackenzie | June 29th, 2011 at 8:19 pm
There does indeed appear to be something about it. I just love the photo of the Flatiron and the Tritata is right up my taste-bud alley! Thanks for sharing Martha. Looks like you had a wonderful and very down-to-earth evening! Did you happen to catch a sunset? I'm sure if you had you would have posted it.
Carol
Posted by: Carol Cook | June 30th, 2011 at 7:12 pm
Oh the picture of you all looks great bet you all had a greattime welcome to America Lidia lv Myrna Gabel
Posted by: Myrna L Gabel | July 2nd, 2011 at 10:12 am
Thank you for sharing your delicioius photos Martha! What a perfect setting for a NY "Beer Garden".
Cheers or shall we say Prosit:)
Judit & Corina
Posted by: WineDineDivas | September 2nd, 2011 at 5:29 pm