National Chains Flower Child and North Italia Are Making a D.C. Debut Soon

Prolific restaurateur Sam Fox plans to sprinkle the D.C. area with his fast-casual salad shop Flower Child and Drake-approved Italian restaurant North Italia, with seven planned locations expected to pop up by next spring.

Fox’s hospitality group Fox Restaurant Concepts tells Eater the first area outpost of Flower Child will land in Rockville, Md. in October (10072 Darnestown Road), followed by another opening early next year in D.C. (2112 Pennsylvania Avenue NW) and in Bethesda, Md. (10241 Old Georgetown Road) and Tysons Corner, Va. (8301 Greensboro Drive) in the spring. North Italia is slated to open next to the D.C. Flower Child in early 2019, followed by another in the spring in Reston, Va. (11898 Market Street) and Tysons Corner next to Flower Child.

Fast-casual Flower Child has about a dozen coast-to-coast locations, primarily in Arizona and Texas, and offers vegan marinated beet poke bowls, grass-fed steak wraps, and kombucha on tap. Sit-down sister spot North Italia, which makes its own pastas at 13 locations across six states, also serves sandwiches, pizzas, small plates, and lots of wine.

Fox, an 11-time James Beard Award semifinalist for restaurateur of the year, has almost 50 restaurants falling under 13 brands. In all, he plans to open 18 new restaurants throughout the U.S. by early 2019.

Fox also founded True Food Kitchen, which has two area locations and just received a big endorsement in the form of Oprah Winfrey investment dollars.

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