Italian restaurants have been popping up in droves all over Los Angeles. Rossoblu — from Chef Steve Samson, formerly of Sotto on the Westside, opened his Italian inspired project in downtown Los Angeles in the City Market South area where condos, coffee shops, wine bars and soon the Slanted Door from San Francisco will take stake. Rossoblu is a large rustic space with a menu loaded in Italian style dishes – minus the pizza – focusing on handmade pastas, roasted suckling pig and succulent steaks, reminiscent of Chef Samson’s time in Bologna.
To start, the charcuterie board is a mixture of housemade and locals purveyor’s meats, served with stracciatella and crispy fritte. The flavors intense and fatty – a true carnivore calling.
One of my favorite dishes was the eggplant – roasted and finely shaved with a smattering of parmesan and roasted tomatoes. It wasn’t heavy like most Parm, just perfection.
Marinated Big Eye Tuna – served in ribbons over heirloom beans with crispy shallots. The ingredients were soft and simple, but it lacked flavor and wasn’t my favorite combination.
The star of the evening Pappardelle with Sausage Ragu and Broccoli. The sauce was magnificent and coated the pasta in a divine way. The broccoli was blended into the sauce, not chunks as in most pasta dishes, superb.
The portions of meat and fish at Rossoblu are on the larger side, so bring some friends to share. The noise level is quite high, but there is a patio on the front side of the building. So opt to eat outside if it’s not 100 degrees in the evening, like it was the night we dined.
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