Rossoblu, the wood-fired Italian restaurant that has anchored Downtown Los Angeles's Fashion District for nearly a decade, will close for good on Nov. 1, 2026. Chef-owner Steve Samson and his wife, co-owner Dina Samson, cited the end of their lease, rising costs of goods and services, and inconsistent patronage as the reasons behind the shutdown, ending a run that began when the restaurant debuted in 2017 as an anchor of the City Market South mixed-use plaza.
The couple announced the closure on Sept. 4, according to the Los Angeles Times, which reported that Dina Samson said they had considered closing Rossoblu for about a year and a half. She told the paper that the restaurant's operating difficulties had taken a toll on the couple's physical and mental health, and Steve Samson said business in 2026 had been brutally slow except during the World Cup. He added that the restaurant was not providing a healthy lifestyle for the family.
Located at 1124 San Julian St., Rossoblu occupies 7,500 square feet within City Market South, a 2.5-acre complex of reimagined industrial buildings that once housed the City Market of Los Angeles, a wholesale produce hub that operated from 1909 to 2009, according to DIGS Magazine. Rossoblu drew on Steve Samson's Italian heritage, serving Bologna-inspired and Los Angeles-inspired cuisine, and it earned a spot on the Los Angeles Times 101 list of best restaurants along with a favorable review from the late Times food critic Jonathan Gold, per the same Times account of the closure.
A Culinary Pedigree Built Before Rossoblu
Steve Samson's path to Rossoblu wound through Columbia University's pre-med program, where he spent three years before changing course, according to the Institute of Culinary Education. He went on to train under mentor Piero Selvaggio at Valentino in Santa Monica before attending the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. Before Rossoblu, he co-founded the celebrated Southern Italian restaurant Sotto in West Los Angeles in 2011, which earned Best New Restaurant honors from Los Angeles Magazine before it abruptly shut down in January 2019 after an eight-year run, according to Time Out.
Rossoblu built its own accolades over the years, maintaining a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand distinction continuously from 2019 through 2023 for its wood-fired Bolognese cooking and extensive in-house butchery program, per the restaurant's own account. The Samsons also opened Superfine Pizza in 2018 as a walk-up window in the same City Market South plaza, serving thin-crust pies combining Neapolitan and New York techniques — a concept Hoodline covered in Superfine Pizza's DTLA debut. Superfine's future remains undetermined, the Times reported.
Part of a Broader Retreat
Rossoblu's closure follows the Samsons' shutdown of Superfine Playa, their Westside California-Italian concept in Playa Vista, which closed on Dec. 31, 2025, after opening in March 2023. Together, the two closures mark a broader retreat from restaurant ownership for the couple after years of mounting operational pressures.
That retreat is unfolding against a wider reckoning in Los Angeles dining. The city's restaurant sector recorded more than 100 high-profile closures in 2025 alone, driven by wholesale food inflation, elevated labor costs, and changing consumer dining habits, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Independent Hospitality Coalition warned city officials in a September 2024 filing with the Los Angeles City Clerk that local independent restaurants were facing an unprecedented wave of closures tied to compounding operational expenses and thin profit margins.
Dina Samson's own background threads through that advocacy work. Before co-founding Rossoblu, she worked as an investment banker in San Francisco and New York and served as chief of staff to financial executives, according to Regarding Her. She later co-founded the advocacy groups Regarding Her in 2020 and the Independent Hospitality Coalition, and she plans to remain involved with both organizations after Rossoblu closes.
A Send-Off Instead of a Sudden Exit
Rather than shutter overnight, Rossoblu plans to spend its final two months reviving fan-favorite menu items and marking the closure with a series of events. The restaurant will host a Chef Steve and Friends dinner featuring guest chefs, an event honoring past and present staff, and even the wedding of its chef de cuisine and sous chef. The Samsons are also considering a New Year's Eve soirée and say Rossoblu will offer at-home Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts in 2026.
Dina Samson said the closure should be treated as a celebration rather than a somber ending. Rossoblu will honor all previous reservations and special events booked beyond Nov. 1 and will continue booking private events through December 2026, even after the dining room itself goes dark. Until then, the restaurant remains open Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 5 to 9:30 p.m.
Steve Samson said he plans to continue cooking in Los Angeles, though no future project has been detailed. What will eventually fill Rossoblu's 7,500-square-foot space at City Market South remains an open question, especially as the complex's commercial lineup continues to shift — Skyduster Beer's 16,000-square-foot brewery is set to open at the same San Julian Street address this year.
