A First Taste of Terra — Eataly’s Wood-Fired Rooftop Terrace Restaurant

Italian food emporium Eataly Dallas opened its doors in December to the excitement of lovers of pasta, pizza, wine, coffee, chocolate, and overall Italophiles. The 46,000-square-foot food hall, located at NorthPark Center, contains more than 10,000 food products, as well as three restaurants, including Terra, the wood-fired Italian restaurant with a view on the third floor. Though it was surprisingly busy on a Wednesday, we snagged a coveted rooftop spot.

After ascending a spiral staircase and winding around what felt a never-ending space filled with neutral hues and mood-setting greenery, we settled into our own cozy spot, which included a table and small room divider (for social distancing, I assume).

The spacious restaurant also contains a pretty outdoor terrace overlooking the parking lot on Boedeker Street. But with a view that’s more treetops than parking spaces, it’s transportive — almost as if you’re not at the mall anymore. The wine menu is vast and there’s a monumental wine fridge on display near the back of the restaurant to prove it.

I knew coming in that I wanted to try one of Terra’s signature cocktails. The Garden Party, made with Ryan Reynold’s Aviation gin, Italicus, mint, basil, cucumber, lemon, and decorative flowers floating atop, caught my attention. It was so light and delightful I could’ve had two more.

The food menu is divided into several sections, including shareable snacks, “Things on Sticks,” grilled meats and seafood, pasta, boards, and vegetables. Most things hit the wood-fired grill at some point before being served. A large loaf of bread with olive oil was complimentary with our meal, so we decided to skip the burrata and olive al forno and go straight for the Arrosticini — one of the aforementioned “Things on Sticks.”

These little skewers of Montone (sheep) were the perfect start to a filling meal that ended up including two pastas — the Ravioli di Zucca with winter squash, and Pappardelle con ragù rustico with local A-Bar-N-Ranch Wagyu. The pastas were surprisingly large portions that we couldn’t quite get through our entire side of smoked cauliflower. I love squash-filled anything and let’s just say I couldn’t bear to let one of those little raviolis be left over.

For dessert, although there were many appealing options like cannolis and gelato, the Tiramisu ended up being quite the show. Plated with a clear, plastic wrapped around the cylindrical ladyfinger dessert, as soon as the server removes the wrapper, creamy sweet mascarpone and cacao powder flow down the sides of dessert — like an elegant, inverted lava cake.