Eataly, an Italian-themed food hall that includes both market-style stalls and restaurants, will
open at 4 World Trade Center this summer, but will have a stall at Dine Around Downtown this week.
BY YANNIC RACK
It’s starting to feel like summer, and that means it’s food-festival season!
Wednesday’s annual Dine Around Downtown festival, now in its 15th year, will gather more than 45 restaurants from around the neighborhood on the former One Chase Manhattan Plaza on Liberty St., and the event is the perfect occasion for some of the newer additions to the Downtown dining scene to introduce themselves to their new neighbors.
“I think the timing’s perfect — we’re finally starting to settle in here, so for us to get our name out there and for people to see us on the street and get familiar with who we are and what we offer, is going to be awesome,” said Justin Bogle, the chef de cuisine at Spanish tapas restaurant Amada, which opened at Brookfield Place in April.
Lower Manhattan has already become a destination for world-class restaurants, and the festival will showcase many of the area’s most impressive culinary offerings — including one hotly anticipated arrival that hasn’t even opened its Downtown doors yet.
“I can’t wait to move into the neighborhood,” said Nicola Farinetti, CEO of Eataly, the Italian marketplace and restaurant that will open its next location at 4 World Trade Center later this summer.
The eatery’s chefs will be pulling fresh mozzarella — served with olive oil, prosciutto and pesto — on site at the festival, to introduce the denizens of Downtown to their locally sourced Mediterranean specialties.
“It’s always very complicated to explain Eataly through a simple tasting sample. We believe that producing our own mozzarella on site can tell a little bit about the shop and environment — because the eating side is easy, but actually getting to see and learn how an actual mozzarella gets produced is an important part of the learning process,” he explained.
But Farinetti said the food extravaganza is also a good chance to get familiar with the competition.
“[But] the reason we’re doing this festival is mostly to get in touch with the other businesses around,” he added. “It’s not only for customers — which is always important — but it’s also to meet the people who will be our neighbors.”
Bogle used to live on Washington St. a few years ago and likes to point out that the Amada space was still a Rite Aid back then, but he said the restaurant is already busy with tourists, office workers and local residents alike — a testament to the neighborhood’s ongoing transformation into a food destination.
“I think our timing, with what’s going on in the neighborhood, was very good,” he said. “I think we’re filling a void right now.”
Bogle said he will be on hand on Wednesday to dole out dishes at Amada’s stand, including a green bean salad with cinnamon yogurt, fresh tomatoes, toasted almonds and bulgur wheat, as well as small Spanish charcuterie sandwiches.
The festival, which usually draws some 15,000 attendees, will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on June 8 on the plaza at the corner of Nassau and Liberty Sts. and is open and free to the public.
Celebrity chef and cookbook author Alex Guarnaschelli is hosting this year’s event, which will also include music by The National Jazz Museum in Harlem All-Stars.
“Dine Around is a food lover’s paradise,” said Jessica Lappin, president of the Downtown Alliance, which is organizing the event together with Fosun Properties. “It’s an event where every person can find delicious dishes, a new cuisine to experience, or new restaurant to add to their favorites. For the thousands that work, live and visit the area, Dine Around Downtown is a can’t-miss culinary adventure.”
As for Farinetti, he said the area around the World Trade Center complex actually reminds him of the state of the Flatiron District when Eataly opened there six years ago. Something of a food desert back then, the area has transformed into a real dining district, and the restaurateur sees a similar future for the Financial District.
“So much wasn’t there back then, and in six years so much has changed — I look around myself and it’s like everybody is opening a restaurant,” he said of Flatiron. “I have the feeling that this is exactly what is going to happen down here. With all these people finally able to enjoy the area, I think that’s going to change things drastically, which is of course one of the reasons we want to be there. New York is a very quick city. It doesn’t take 10 years to change something.”
Dine Around Downtown will take place from 11 a.m.–3 p.m. on Wednesday, June 8 at 28 Liberty Plaza. Entrance is free, but dishes cost $3-$7. For a full list of participating restaurants, visit downtownny.com/dinearound
