{"id":45592,"date":"2026-09-05T20:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T20:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/45592\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T20:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T20:18:17","slug":"celebrated-italian-restaurant-rossoblu-set-to-close-in-november","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/45592\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrated Italian restaurant Rossoblu set to close in November"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of L.A.\u2019s celebrated Italian restaurants is set to close after nearly a decade of handmade pastas, Bolognese specialties and amari in downtown\u2019s Fashion District.<\/p>\n

Chef-owner Steve Samson and his wife and business partner, Dina Samson, debuted Rossoblu in 2017<\/a> as an anchor of the industrial mixed-use City Market South plaza to great acclaim. The Bologna-inspired restaurant, which draws on Steve\u2019s own Italian heritage, was favorably reviewed by late Times Food critic Jonathan Gold and has appeared on the L.A. Times 101 list of best restaurants. <\/p>\n

On Friday, the Samsons announced the restaurant will close Nov. 1, but hinted at more to come for the 7,500-square-foot space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Rossoblu<\/a> is closing, the story of this beautiful space isn\u2019t over,\u201d they wrote in a joint statement published to Instagram and their mailing list. \u201cWe can\u2019t share what\u2019s coming next quite yet, but it has an exciting and delicious future.\u2060\u201d<\/p>\n

By phone that afternoon, the Samsons cited a range of reasons for the closure, including the end of their lease coinciding with a difficult environment for independent restaurants that involves the rising cost of goods and services and inconsistent patronage. It proved harrowing for years, they said, resulting in declines to their physical and mental health. With the exception of the World Cup, Steve said business this year has been \u201cbrutally slow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cyclical nature of the restaurant industry \u2014 with lucrative months often surrounding the holiday season but fallow times during summer vacations and the start of the year \u2014 led the couple to consider hanging on, but also added stress. According to Dina, they\u2019d been considering the closure for about a year and a half.<\/p>\n

\"Chef <\/p>\n

Chef Steve Samson prepares an order of French fries at his downtown restaurant Rossoblu. <\/p>\n

(Jenn Harris \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t really enjoy the quality of life it was affording us,\u201d Steve said. \u201cThere were no advantages to owning the restaurant versus doing anything else. We weren\u2019t thriving, and it just became too much to handle between the two of us. We felt it was time to step away from it, because it\u2019s not a healthy lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their Westside restaurant, Superfine Playa, closed at the end of last year for similar reasons. The future of Rossoblu\u2019s tandem pizzeria, Superfine, remains undetermined.<\/p>\n

While Dina is unsure of any future role in the restaurant industry, she said she will remain involved with Regarding: Her and the Independent Hospitality Coalition, two organizations founded to help champion and aid restaurateurs and chefs as they navigate the business. Steve said he will remain cooking in L.A., but did not provide further details.<\/p>\n

In a 2017 review,<\/a> Gold called Rossoblu\u2019s handmade pastas \u201cephemeral\u201d and said the tortelloni \u201ccould illustrate the concept of Italian dumplings in a textbook.\u201d Gold also praised its coal-roasted vegetables and the chicken cooked under a brick \u2014 enjoying the simpler, more homestyle Italian renditions than some of those found at a previous Samson restaurant, the since-shuttered and influential Sotto.<\/p>\n

Until Nov. 1, guests still can witness Steve preparing these dishes along with others that might have dropped from the menu in recent years. In its last two months, the owners will revive some fan-favorite items and host special events such as a \u201cChef Steve and friends dinner\u201d with guest chefs. Another planned event will honor the restaurant\u2019s staff both past and present.<\/p>\n

\"Ilario's <\/p>\n

Ilario\u2019s Grigliata from Rossoblu.<\/p>\n

(Katrina Frederick \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really want to celebrate the restaurant and how it was such a big part of our lives for almost 10 years,\u201d Steve said.<\/p>\n

All previous reservations and special events booked beyond Nov. 1 still will be honored, and the team will continue to book private events through December. At-home feasts for Thanksgiving and Christmas still will be offered this year, and the Samsons are considering a blowout New Year\u2019s Eve soir\u00e9e too. One of the last events to be held in the restaurant will be the wedding of Rossoblu\u2019s chef de cuisine and sous chef, who met while working at the restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople want to think it\u2019s sad \u2014 and I guess it is sad because people that love it won\u2019t be able to go anymore \u2014 but we want it to really be a celebration,\u201d Dina said. \u201cSteve will still be cooking in L.A. He\u2019s not going anywhere, and I\u2019ll still be here to help people that need help in the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rossoblu<\/a> is located at 1124 San Julian St. in downtown Los Angeles and is open Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 to 9:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of L.A.\u2019s celebrated Italian restaurants is set to close after nearly a decade of handmade pastas, Bolognese…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[29399,29401,22568,29400,29407,29408,5,29405,29404,29406,29403,29398,29402,29397,29409,3746],"class_list":["post-45592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-italy","tag-bologna-inspired-restaurant","tag-business-partner","tag-chef","tag-dina-samson","tag-good-restaurant","tag-handmade-pasta","tag-italy","tag-l-a-times","tag-nov","tag-reason","tag-restaurant-industry","tag-rossoblu","tag-samsons","tag-steve","tag-superfine-playa","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}