Mario Batali Expands Empire Further
By: Anthony Adragna
Published: April 4, 2011

Famed Italian-American chef Mario Batali has one of the hottest restaurants in NYC (Babbo), other wildly successful eateries, television appearances, lots of books, and huge Italian eatery/grocery store/ mix of everything called Eataly in New York City. Well, two more additions to his empire are planned.
1) Cooking App: Batali recently launched his first foray into the digital world. An app called "Mario Batali Cooks!" works with an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. It features 63 recipes from around the country, and allows users to pick what region they'd like to cook from. Each recipe features still images and video created especially for the app. At $9.99 it's not cheap, but allows you unparalleled access to Batali in your kitchen. Click here for more information.
2) Eataly West Coast: If the rumors are true (and The Hollywood Reporter confirms them), Batali plans to bring his highly successful New York center of Italian culture to Los Angeles. Eater reports that two separate sources were told by Joe Bastianich that a version of Eataly would be coming to the Los Angeles area and that he would be scouting locations. Reportedly, the pair have found a location in the Fairfax District. Stay tuned.
Photo by Charles Haynes