Famed Mississippi restauranteur Robert St. John is bringing a little bit of Italy to the Jackson Metro area.

St. John made the announcement on his personal website last week.

St. John and his business partner, Jarred Patterson, COO of New South Restaurant Group, are in the process of creating a restaurant that will take over the Biaggi’s restaurant at the Renaissance in Ridgeland. St. John said taking over an existing restaurant space is a first for him.

“It’s a very interesting and unique deal for me as in four decades and over two dozen restaurants opened, I have never encountered a situation such as this,” St. John said on his website. “We are taking over a restaurant— Biaggi’s— currently in operation, tables, chairs, cooking equipment, glasses, forks, and silverware all intact, even the employees and the management are in place. Our job is to oversee the complete and total overhaul of the menu, food development, service standards, and design of our “new” restaurant.”

On his website, St. John gave a few details about the restaurant and what diner’s can anticipate.

“Our new restaurant, Enzo, will be named after my good friend in Tuscany, Enzo Corti, who bottles olive oil and wine and owns the villas in which we stay. Enzo Osteria (pronounced Oh-stir-ee-uh, basically a casual Italian tavern) will feature the American-Italian food we are used to over here,’ St. John said. “But half of the menu will be filled with many of the authentic Italian dishes I’ve learned over the last 11 years in Italian restaurant kitchens and Tuscan home kitchens throughout the country.”

St. John said he and his partners will take possession of the building on September 7th. At that point they will make some physical changes to to the building — mainly creating a stand-alone bar and cocktail lounge separate from the dining room — before opening later in the fall.