We recently had the good fortune to visit Rossoblu, a new Bolognese-themed restaurant and Lambrusco garden by celebrity chef Steve Samson.

The restaurant still hasn’t officially launched but it should be opening its doors to the public any day now.

Even thought Emilian food is immensely popular in the United States, there are very few restaurants where it plays a starring role as it will at Rossoblu, which is named after the Bologna soccer team, Bologna FC.

As it happens, Steve’s mom is from Bologna: Even though he grew up in Los Angeles (in the Valley), he would spend his summers as a kid in Bologna in his mom’s old neighborhood. He’s worked in some of the most celebrated Italian restaurants in the U.S. (including the storied Valentino in LA, where he served as executive chef). And a little over six years ago, he opened Sotto, the wildly popular casual Italian eatery devoted to the cuisine of southern Italy and classic Neapolitan pizza.

In December 2016, EaterLA called Rossoblu “one of the most anticipated restaurant openings in the city” and if you click through to the link, you’ll see that chef Steve is the featured restaurateur. Pretty friggin’ cool, right?

We couldn’t share photos of the interior but we did get permission to share the image above of the new waitstaff during a training session.

Congratulations, chef Steve! We can’t wait to visit your new restaurant! Evvia il Lambrusco!