Inside the Eataly Opening in World Trade Center Complex

A part of Eataly's self-described "manifesto" is that "good food brings us all together." The Italian franchise is hoping its new location in the World Trade Center Complex Mall will do just that — bring the tourists together with the Wall Street traders and the Battery Park families in the Financial District — over the great unifier of food.

"I think the power of Eataly is the simplicity of the products, the essential things that people really want," Eataly partner Joe Bastianich told Patch. "Coffee, cappuccino, pizza … that’s what brings everyone together. A high paid power Wall Street trader, tourist from Wisconsin, local battery park resident. They still all just want a really great pizza margherita."

This expansive, new location takes up the entire bright third floor of the new World Trade Center Mall on the corner of Church and Liberty streets. It has literally every Italian food you could think of, and more.

It also has a museum-like wall of display cheeses and meats with educational information about each product for visitors to learn more about where they come from and how they were produced. If you wanted a T-shirt that boasts how much you love pasta, this is the place for you.

Eataly will have a salad bar like Tossed or Chop't for the office lunch rush, but it will be different in that all the dressings will be types of olive oil, and the customer will learn all about the ingredients and making of the olive oil of their choosing. They want the customer to learn about their food. Chefs will offer free pasta making classes in a windowed corner of the store overlooking the World Trade Center Memorial fountain.

"I still get chills every time I look out that window," said Eataly partner Adam Saper.

A new section unique to this Eataly will be a prepared foods counter where many of Eataly's star chef Mario Batali's recipes will be prepared and ready for takeout, lunchtime or groceries. The prepared foods are smack dab in the middle of the fresh fish section and the meats section, both of which focus on what the head meat chef calls "sustainability and seasonality." The partners emphasized the fact that the meats are from local New York farms, and the cattle are fed grains with no GMOs.

Usually after a good, hearty meal of pizza and pasta, it's almost impossible to fit in some dessert, but most will find a way for Eataly's warm chocolate hazelnut fountain poured over a milk flour or pistachio gelato.

This is New York City's second Eataly location, joining Dubai, United Arab Emirates as the second city in the world to have two Eatalys. The new location opens Aug. 11 at 101 Liberty Street at noon, and will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. The first 100 people to enter Eataly on opening day will receive a ticket for a complimentary tasting tour of the new store in September.

All images by Sarah Kaufman/Patch