Italian food marketplace Eataly coming to Valley Fair

It’s been called a Disneyland for Italian food lovers, with pasta, cheeses, sauces, gelato, wine, espresso — and loads of inspiration for the home cook — under one roof.

The culinary experience known as Eataly is coming to Silicon Valley.

The 51,000-square-foot, three-floor marketplace and restaurant complex — the first in Northern California — will be built at Valley Fair as part of the Santa Clara/San Jose center’s $1 billion transformation now under way.

A 2021 opening is forecast for this “shop, eat, learn” concept that will feature products from Italy’s 20 regions as well as local purveyors.

“We are excited to bring Eataly to one of the most important economic regions of the world in 2021,” Nicola Farinetti, Global CEO of Eataly, said Tuesday in a statement. “At Eataly Silicon Valley, we will import many of our products from Italy — like olive oil and dry pasta — while also making it a priority to work with local producers from Northern California.”

Members of San Jose’s Italian American Heritage Foundation applauded the enterprise, saying they hope it will highlight local Italian-American culture and purveyors.

“There are few things Italians celebrate as much as good food and drink,” president Felix Dalldorf said in welcoming Eataly to the region. “While it may not be the same as shopping the local markets in the town squares, bringing fresh ingredients, a wide selection of offerings and new tasting choices will help to bring a little bit of Italy to us.”

Anthony Zerbo, one of the group’s vice presidents, noted that multicultural San Jose, the nation’s 10th largest city, is a wise choice for making Italian food imports available not only to the Italian community but also to others.

Entrepreneur Oscar Farinetti opened his first Eataly in Turin, Italy, in 2007, and the company now operates 40 stores globally. There are seven in North America, including New York (two), Toronto, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. A Dallas location is scheduled to open in 2020.

The Silicon Valley center will be the second on the West Coast and the third at a Westfield center. Eataly NYC Downtown at Westfield World Trade Center made its debut in 2016 and Eataly L.A. at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles opened in 2017.

Eataly representatives said it’s too early to announce specifics for Silicon Valley, but if the Westfield experience in SoCal is any indication, local foodies will find restaurant spaces, multiple takeaway counters, a main marketplace, an impressive wine selection and perhaps even a cooking school inside the Stevens Creek Boulevard emporium when it opens here.

The concept fits neatly into Westfield Valley Fair’s plan to diversify into entertainment and dining to create a livelier mix of things to do beyond shopping.

The mall expansion, which started in 2016, will feature 100 new stores and restaurants, including such upscale labels as Versace and Prada. Other high-profile tenants will include Apple, which has leased space for a multi-level flagship store. A luxury ICON movie cinema has already opened.

“Valley Fair is betting that this will be the future of malls,” Dale Achabal, professor of marketing and retail at Santa Clara University, told the Mercury News for a September 2018 article. “It’s not going to be just a mall — it will be an entertainment center with a memorable experience for the consumer. It will be an exciting place to be.”

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