Chef Steve Samson on Rosso Blu, Bologna, Gnocchi, and the Real Cost of Running a Restaurant

Chef Steve Samson on Rosso Blu, Bologna, Gnocchi, and the Real Cost of Running a Restaurant 

The Italian Food Secret LA Has Been Hiding

This week on Drinking During Business Hours, Sarah Halstead and Rich Chassler sit down with Michelin-recognized chef and restaurateur Steve Samson for a rich, hilarious, and deeply personal conversation about Italian food, the restaurant life, and what it really takes to build something lasting in Los Angeles.

Steve is the chef and co-owner of Rosso Blu in downtown LA, a Bolognese-inspired restaurant that Rich and Sarah recently visited and could not stop raving about. From the wood-burning oven to the legendary gnocchi to the iconic burro e oro tortelloni, this episode is a love letter to great Italian cooking and the people who dedicate their lives to it.

Steve opens up about growing up spending summers in Bologna with his grandparents, how food was always the center of family life, and how those memories eventually led him to leave behind a stack of med school applications and enroll in culinary school in New York City. He talks about his early kitchens in Soho and Maine, his time working with Piero Selvaggio at Valentino in Las Vegas, and how the vision for Rosso Blu was born from a simple idea: cook the food his mother made.

The conversation gets real when Steve talks about the economics of running a restaurant in California, the crushing costs post-pandemic, labor laws, tip credits, and why places that used to be neighborhood spots are now special occasion dinners. His wife and partner Dina gets a major shout-out as the operational backbone of everything they have built together.

It is funny, warm, food-obsessed, and packed with the kind of honesty you only get when great wine is flowing. Do not miss it.

Guest Info

Steve Samson is a Los Angeles-based chef, restaurateur, and co-founder of Rosso Blu, a critically acclaimed Bolognese-inspired restaurant located in the Fashion District of downtown Los Angeles. Steve was born in Brooklyn, raised in Los Angeles, and spent formative summers in Bologna, Italy, where his mother’s family shaped his deep love for traditional northern Italian cuisine. He trained at Peter Kump’s Cooking School in New York City, cooked in celebrated New York kitchens, and worked with legendary restaurateur Piero Selvaggio at Valentino in Las Vegas before returning to LA. He co-founded Sotto on Pico Boulevard, a beloved Southern Italian restaurant, before opening Rosso Blu with his wife and business partner Dina Samson. Rosso Blu has received Michelin recognition and has been written up in virtually every major food publication. Steve is known for presenting dishes with photographs of his family in Italy and the stories behind each recipe, making every meal at Rosso Blu a deeply personal experience.

 

🔗 Guest Social Links

• Restaurant Website: https://www.rossoblu.com

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chefstevesamson/

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steve.samson.311

• Restaurant Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rossoblula/

• Chef's website: https://www.chefstevesamson.net/

 

Drink of the Podcast

Feudi di San Gregorio Cutizzi, 100% Greco di Tufo, Campania, Italy

Rich and Sarah kicked off the episode with this stunning summer white from the Campania region of southern Italy, made entirely from the Greco grape. Feudi di San Gregorio is one of the most respected producers in southern Italy and the Cutizzi is their flagship expression of Greco di Tufo, known for its mineral-driven structure, stone fruit aromatics, and refreshing acidity. Rich described it as one of his favorite summer whites and noted it goes particularly well in a jacuzzi. They also poured Castello di Bolgheri by Antinori cousins, a Super Tuscan at around $150 a bottle, which Steve got to enjoy toward the end of the episode.

 

Chapters

00:00 Welcome & Drink of the Podcast  - Feudi di San Gregorio Cutizzi, Greco di Tufo

03:15 Introducing Chef Steve Samson -  Michelin-Recognized Chef & Owner of Rosso Blu

09:05 The Story Behind the Menu -  Presenting Dishes with Family Photos from Bologna

13:05 Bologna’s Three Nicknames -  La Dotta, La Grassa, La Rossa

18:45 Peter Kump’s Cooking School, NYC — Now Called ICE, Institute of Culinary Education

19:45 First Kitchen Job - Little Cranberry Island, Maine & the Lobster Dock Next Door

23:35 In the Weeds - The Term, What It Means in Any Vocation & Getting Through It

26:05 After-Hours NYC - Blue Ribbon, Seafood Towers & the Chefs Who Ran the Night

29:00 Building Your Chops - Garmanger, Pantry Station, Day Rates & Learning to Cook Professionally

31:50 Chefs Don’t Trash Talk Each Other - Tom Colicchio, Nancy Silverton & the Respect in the Industry

35:55 No Tip Credit in California - What It Means, What It Costs & Why Sacramento Won’t Change It

38:30 Shout Out to Dina Samson - The Glue, the Beast, the Operational Backbone of Rosso Blu

40:30 Post-COVID Costs - How Rising Prices Changed the Dining Landscape for Everyone

43:45 Your Gnocchi Changed My Life - The Secrets, Old Potatoes & Why It Goes So Wrong

48:20 The Test Kitchen Space - What Was There Before Sotto & the Chefs Who Came Through

50:30 Michael Voltaggio, Ink, Ink Sack & Great LA Restaurants We’ve Lost

55:00 Molecular Gastronomy, Emulsifiers & Why Italian Cooking Needs None of It

59:50 Paris, Amsterdam, Youth Hostels & the Bouillons - Traveling with the Kids on a Budget

61:00 Café d’Argent, Paris - The Numbered Duck & a Wine Cellar with 50,000 Bottles

64:00 Where to Find Steve & Rosso Blu + Thank Yous & Sign Off

📣 Call to Action

If you enjoyed this episode, like, comment, and subscribe to Drinking During Business Hours for more conversations with chefs, winemakers, comedians, actors, and creatives who know how to live well.

Drop a comment telling us your favorite Italian restaurant experience or what your go-to summer white is right now. Share this episode with anyone who loves great food, great wine, and great stories. And if you are in Los Angeles or visiting, get yourself to Rosso Blu in the Fashion District downtown. You will not regret it.

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Sarah and Rich are the husband-and-wife comedy duo behind Drinking During Business Hours, where comedy, conversation, great wine, and incredible guests collide every episode.

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