Eatery Expansions

This week the teams behind Eataly and Umami announced that they will expand their burgeoning empires to new cities by the end of next year. 

Eataly Expands to D.C. and L.A.: The powerful trio behind New York City's grand Italian marketplace, Mario Batali, and Joe and Lidia Bastianich, are planning to open locations of Eataly in D.C. and L.A. by the end of 2012. Joe Bastianich told The Huffington Post that the new spots will be at least as expansive as the New York City location (which currently stands at roughly 40,000 square-feet). As far as which new Eataly will open first, that depends on which city they can secure a site in first. 

Umami Takes on the Big Apple: It looks like New Yorkers will get to enjoy Umami burgers soon enough. Founder Adam Fleischman told Grub Street this week that the L.A.-based chain plans to open in Gotham by late 2012. The Umami expansion will also extend to Miami, Las Vegas, and Houston. News of Umami's expansion follows last Friday's announcement by Sam Nazarian's hospitality group SBE, that they have acquired a sizable stake of the chain. 

The Daily Byte is a regular column dedicated to covering interesting food news and trends across the country. Click here for previous columns.