Today. Temporary entrance open again on Balmuto.
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Went back to Eataly this afternoon...I'm SO impressed by this place. Ended up buying a bunch of produce for less than it costs at No Frills. I can't believe such a fancy place has such low produce prices! I also like that I can buy shallots individually instead of anywhere else where I have to buy a pack of 10 and then end up throwing out 8 of them because I barely cook with shallots. Better for my wallet and the environment.

Anyway, I ended up making 3 portions of Butternut Squash Rigatoni (pic below) with less than $10 worth of ingredients from Eataly. I make this dish quite often, but it tastes much better today with the quality of produce I got. Will be doing groceries here instead of No Frills now (I can't believe I'm saying this).

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Went back to Eataly this afternoon...I'm SO impressed by this place. Ended up buying a bunch of produce for less than it costs at No Frills. I can't believe such a fancy place has such low produce prices! I also like that I can buy shallots individually instead of anywhere else where I have to buy a pack of 10 and then end up throwing out 8 of them because I barely cook with shallots. Better for my wallet and the environment.

Anyway, I ended up making 3 portions of Butternut Squash Rigatoni (pic below) with less than $10 worth of ingredients from Eataly. I make this dish quite often, but it tastes much better today with the quality of produce I got. Will be doing groceries here instead of No Frills now (I can't believe I'm saying this).

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I concur, the selection and freshness of the produce (and meat and fish/seafood) are great, even if you're not interested in their other stuff such as cheeses and prosciutto. I've bought salmon and trout there a few times and the freshness is perfect. I'm a celiac so I'm not that interested in the restaurants; I love it as a market.
 
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This is a purely subjective observation, but it seems the arrival of Eataly has greatly increased traffic in the rest of the complex. It would be expected considering how important anchor stores are in shopping malls, but Eataly is not well integrated - if you live there, you have to go through their brewery on the concourse level or what is essentially a fire door off of their coffee shop on the ground floor.
 
Heather Mallick over at The Star has a column out on Manulife Ctr. and its various renos over the years up to and including this latest one.

While briefly, but heftily praising Eataly, she conveys her total distaste for the complex and its latest reno.

She also takes issue with our own @AlexBozikovic of the Globe and Mail suggesting his critique is the wrong one, from her perspective.

"Architecture critic Alex Bozikovic is furious because the “serious importance” of the brutalist beauty of the cement tower has been compromised. I am furious because the cement tower was hideous from the start and the dog’s mess at the base has failed to distract from that. "

Article is here:

 

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