What opening day at Eataly Toronto looked like

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After years of anticipation, Eataly Toronto finally opened to the public yesterday. But before the revolving doors let in the hordes of would-be shoppers lined up all along Bloor, Eataly held a somewhat more private party before the official 5 p.m. opening. The ribbon-cutting (or, in this case, sheet-of-pasta-cutting) ceremony took place earlier in the day, and was attended by Eataly CEO Nicola Farinetti, Galen Weston Jr. (the Weston family is behind part of the project), Italian consul general Eugenio Sgro and Mayor John Tory. And with all the free samples it was like Costco on a Saturday, but instead of bagel pizzas and meatballs, there was champagne, caviar and beef tartare. Here’s what day one at the Italian food emporium looked like.

Upon entry, customers end up in the Gran Caffé, Eataly’s licensed all-day café:

The second floor is where everything else is (except for the brewery, which you’ll see later):

There’s produce for sale:

The baskets are a nice touch:

There were samples aplenty, including a whole bunch of meat:

Including fancy ham:

And prosciutto:

Some of that prosciutto ended up on the Neapolitan pizzas:

Here’s one of them now:

There were also samples of Roman-style pizza alla pala:

And pizza al padellino, Torino-style pies cooked in small pans:

There were pasta-making demonstrations:

And over in the culinary school, risotto was the recipe of the day:

Ontario’s own Sheldon Creek Dairy is Eataly Toronto’s milk supplier:

Their milk ends up in Eataly’s house-made gelato:

And in their coffee-based beverages:

But back to the meat samples: Here we have some roast beef

And some beef tartare with white truffle:

Guests also indulged in caviar tastings, because of course:

To wash it down: some sparkling

And a bit more sparkling:

And some wine:

And an Aperol Spritz:

The bakers were hard at work, pumping out loaves of wood-fired bread:

Over at the raw bar, there were oysters:

Here’s the raw bar itself:

For the vegetarians, some deep-fried ‘shrooms:

And for dessert, piped-to-order cannoli:

And samples of Venchi’s chocolate:

It’s officially panettone season:

The prepared-food counter is up and running:

And the pasta counter is stocked:

The hosts are ready:

And Indie Ale House’s Birroteca is ready to serve:

These four new Italian-style beers can only be found at this location:

Here’s Mayor Tory, who mentioned that the opening of Eataly created 450 new jobs:

And here’s the crew, post–ribbon cutting: