Disclosure: My family was invited to try out a meal at Eataly \u00a0as part of their Eataly Loves Kids program. We weren’t compensated. All opinions and happy tummies are my family’s own.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yesterday, one of my good friends packed up her family and jumped on a plane, headed for an amazing adventure in Italy. That’s not in the cards for us this summer, so I did the next best thing. I packed up my family and hopped in the car as we headed for\u00a0an adventure at Eataly Chicago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I love the idea of traveling with your taste buds, and this was a great way for us to explore Italy and enjoy some fun time together \u00a0without needing passports or suitcases.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Eataly<\/strong><\/p>\n

Founded in Torino in 207, Eataly is the largest artisanal Italian marketplace in the world. There are now more than\u00a035 locations in countries all across the globe. Eataly Chicago is the largest location in the U.S. with\u00a0more than\u00a060,000 square feet on two floors, including 5 full-service restaurants.<\/p>\n

Sounds fantastic, right? Even better, it’s family-friendly. And if you love pasta, wine, cheese, or anything related to Italy, you’re in the right place.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Pizza via Eataly Loves Kids<\/strong><\/p>\n

The store has recently launched Eataly Loves Kids, which is focused on what kids love: pizza.<\/p>\n

In La Pizza & La Pasta<\/a>, the\u00a0most popular and largest restaurant, \u00a0kids can get a\u00a0$9 Neapolitan-style pizza in their choice of fun shapes: hearts, butterflies, fish, or\u00a0bunnies. Children choose their shape and ingredients by coloring an interactive menu, which is also a great way to learn some Italian. (And my\u00a0teens and the good friend she brought with us\u00a0were surprisingly charmed by the shaped pizzas.)<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u00a0is available during regular restaurant hours Sunday through Thursday. The hours are Sunday from 11 a.m. to\u00a09 p.m.and Monday-Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.<\/p>\n

The pizza is large, and the kids gobbled it up. The fact that it won’t completely break the bank shows some love to parents, too.<\/p>\n

It’s possible that when we went the adults were as mesmerized watching\u00a0the expert pizzaiolo, or pizza maker, craft the pizzas and slide them in and out of the ovens.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

My husband and I both had pasta, which they serve\u00a0al dente,<\/em>\u00a0just like they do it in Italy.\u00a0I had the Ravioli di Prosciutto con Piselli.\u00a0My husband really enjoyed the Rigatoni all’ Arrabbiata, which had enough kick to make him happy. Perhaps because of that, he also tried\u00a0out Mole Cola, the Italian version of Coca Cola.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Everyone Loves Gelato<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we were done with our meal, we headed downstairs and grabbed gelato. The tiramisu gelato is fantastic. And my daughter loved her combo of berry and lemon sorbets.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

None of us was brave enough to try the caprese gelato combo, but perhaps next time! The combo is pomodoro sorbet plus basil-flavored gelato plus sweet milk gelato, with\u00a0extra virgin olive oil and sea salt sprinkled on top.<\/p>\n

When I asked my daughter what her favorite part of our visit to Italy was, she replied, “My pizza was really good. The gelato was really good, too!” Kid may not have the largest vocabulary, but she knows what she likes.<\/p>\n

If you can’t visit in Chicago, there are two locations in New York and one in Boston, with stores planned for Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Toronto.<\/p>\n

Eataly Chicago is located at 43 E. Ohio Street.<\/p>\n

Prior Post:<\/strong>\u00a0Tips for meeting characters at Disney\u2019s Aulani<\/a><\/p>\n

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Disclosure: My family was invited to try out a meal at Eataly \u00a0as part of their Eataly Loves Kids program. We weren’t compensated. All opinions and happy tummies are my family’s own. Yesterday, one of my good friends packed up her family and jumped on a plane, headed for an amazing adventure in Italy. That’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[410,6,8,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7697"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7697"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7710,"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7697\/revisions\/7710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}