Retired Denver police officer Mike Rossi is making the leap to restaurant entrepreneurship, but he’ll be armed with a seasoned staff and site. In mid-April, Rossi’s Italian Eatery will open with a name change and not much different from its former incarnation as Mama Sannino’s at 5800 W. 38th Ave. in Wheat Ridge.

“When I left the police department I started driving school (businesses) in Colorado, but I’ve always wanted to own a restaurant,” Rossi wrote in an email to What Now Denver. “When the opportunity presented itself I couldn’t pass it up.”