International travel in the middle of a pandemic? No thanks. But you don’t have to leave Texas to go to Italy. Of course, that’s always been true: it’s fifteen miles south of Waxahachie, just off Interstate 35. But as of December 9, in Dallas, you can also go to Eataly. 

The Italian culinary wonderland, part restaurant and food court, part department store and grocery, has opened in NorthPark Center. It’s the seventh location in North America, and one of forty around the world. I’ve been to the original New York location many times, as well as those in Chicago, Las Vegas, Florence, and Bologna.