Yesterday, EaterLA reportedly confirmed rumors that “EATALY IS COMING TO LA!!!!!” (their emphasis, not ours). As co-owner Lidia Bastianch told us something very different in our interview two weeks ago, we went directly to the source for confirmation.

Eater says their statement is backed by information “from two separate sources,” including an “Eater operative” whom we can only presume has proper FBI cafeteria training. The rumor was also, we are told, “substantiated by [Joe Bastianich's] Twitter feed.” We probably don't need to mention that Twitter is entirely built on rumors, but we will anyway. Turn the page for Lidia Bastianich's response.

Here's what she originally told us two weeks ago:

Squid Ink: Any plans for other Eataly venues at this point? Specifically L.A.?

Lidia Bastianich: [Laughs] Well, we already have people asking, of course. But this sort of thing needs a concentration of people to work. So it has to be in the right place. Who knows, maybe.

Bastianich says that EATaly definitely still is not a sure thing for L.A. “My son was simply in L.A. shooting for MasterChef, and hence he was poking around and looking around. But nothing has been decided,” she told us via telephone yesterday afternoon. “We are now simultaneously researching real estate in L.A. and Toronto, for that matter. So nothing has been signed. There is nothing definite. L.A. and Toronto. But nothing definite, certainly.”

Hmmm. Like New York, Toronto certainly has an awfully convenient metro system to get those nearly 3 million pasta fans in buying range. May the Twitter rumors continue.

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