Fabio Trabocchi

For Shrimp and anyone else that had issues with Fiola in our first week of operation, you are more than welcome to e mail me at fabio@fioladc.com and i will personally invite you back as my guest. Hopefully this board will take into consideration that we are working hard to improve our restaurant's service and food. We are not trying to make any excuses, and we do take those comments into serious consideration. Thank you for your patronage and I look forward to greeting you as my guest, so that now we can all enjoy the nice weather. Fabio Trabocchi

I am very sorry you had a less than satisfactory experience. I would love to have you back at Maestro once again. Please let me know where I am able to contact you personally to discuss the above. Otherwise please feel free to reach me at 703-744-3928 or fabio.trabocchi@ritzcarlton.com. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Kind regards, Fabio Trabocchi Maestro Chef

Don and Everyone who joined in on this chat, I would like to thank everyone for allowing me to have this chat so that I may share part of my cooking and personal life with you as well as answer any questions that you may have had. This was a wonderful experience and would definitely be up to it on another opportunity perhaps in the future. Please feel free to contact me personally if you have any further questions that I may answer and perhaps I did not have time to do. All the best, Fabio Trabocchi

Meaghan, chefs that I particularly like are Thomas Keller, Michel Richard, Jose Andres, Eric Ziebold, Roberto Donna, Todd Gray and Cathal Armstrong. In New York, Daniel Boulud, Scott Conant, Shea Gallante, Cesare Casella, Gabriel Kreuther, Gray Kuentz and Don Barber. My last memorable meals in chronological order are Ristorante Uliassi owned by Mauro Uliassi in Senigallia in Marche, Italy. Le Calandre in Rubano, Padua, Italy. Cru in NYC by Shea Gallante. Megu, modern Japanese cuisine in NYC. Daniel by Daniel Boulud. I felt at home at Otto by Mario Batali in NYC. Per Se by Thomas Keller. Public in NYC. Modern at the Museum of Modern Art by Gabriel Kreuther in NYC. Alto by Scott Conant in NYC and Café Gray in NYC. Absolutely loved Maremma in NYC, new restaurant by Cesare Casella. In Washington D.C. I loved Citronelle, Marcel, Galileo, Palena, Citizen, Black Salt. My next dining venture which is at the top of my list will be Restaurant Eve.

On Sundays and Mondays (days off) I try to spend as much time as possible with my kids. I also try to catch up with my personal "to do" list of projects, etc. Lately in the past year and a half I spend a lot of time working on my upcoming cookbook, "Chef of Le Marche: Recipes from the Secret Italy" which will be published by Harper Collins and will be available in September 2006. I read a lot of cookbooks...of course just as much as I try to read about anything that is NOT cooking. When I can I take care of my car with my son Luca. This is when I relax and think about his future. There is nothing in particular that annoys me but when there is...it is very transparent.

Don, I am in my early thirties and I noticed that if I kept going this way, soon, I mean very soon...I would not have had too much hair left. Therefore the decision was made within the five seconds you described. I love Robiola for its mild taste. It is very versatile and can be used in multiple ways. The cherry tomatoes on top of a piece of bread with Robiola over a summer day is the reason why this dish was put together. Obviously the tomatoes from David Lankford are some of the best that I have tasted in this area.

Mr. Heflin, I would love to have Massimiliano and/or Mauro Uliassi cook in our kitchen. Or even better for me to go there so that I may brush up on my Italian... I will check with them for their availability and perhaps arrange something for next spring. As for the grappa risotto, it is really not that complicated but to make it from just good to excellent then it all depends on the ingreditents and on the balance of this great combination. It is easier to do this recipe if we make it together at Maestro whenever your schedule allows.

Jackie, I am really happy you enjoyed both experiences to celebrate birthdays. I hope to see you again to celebrate yet another special occasion or simply to treat yourself. As I have stated before I feel very lucky to have people around me that help me in making my job easier. Stefano, Emanuele and others who I have had the pleasure of working with consecutively in different venues are persons whom I believe enjoy the great chemistry of a team and the success that this produces. Regardless of why we are able to stick together throughout the years I am happy that I am able to count on them always.

Alli, during my days off I take my kids to the grocery and I prefer to take them to fresh markets that are available where vegetables and fruits are visible for my kids to pick. Asian markets are where we purchase our fish. I basically do what my father used to do with me. I find this is a great way for them to be involved with the meal preparation. They end up eating things that probably they wouldn't normally. They get very excited: Alice will sit on a stool working on our kitchen counter picking herbs or going through salad leaves. My son Luca is only 2 years old, so for now I only let him touch the ingredients so that he begins to learn their names. This is what I normally do on my days off...I cook with my kids, then we all sit down at the table to have a proper meal. It is not a real standard or a must do dish every time. We cook depending on what is available on the market on those days. More importantly I love to make very simple things. Regarding top destinations in Italy...the two places that I would recommend to visit would be Le Calandre in Rubano near Padua and Uliass, a restaurant in Senigallia in the Marche region. I personally have tried both and still have memories about them. Le Calandre is a three michelin star restaurant and Uliassi is a one michelin star but in my opinion can certainly be a two star.

We are certainly proud of what we have achieved being that we are at this location. However, there has always been a feeling that we are hidden. I personally think that when you have such a weakness or disability then all other strengths need to arise far more than what is expected to achieve the ultimate goal.

John, Back in 1995 I met my wife in Washington and five years after that we have been together in Spain and London. We always hoped to come back to this area so when the opportunity with the Ritz arised I put serious thought into it. Obviously they have been very good to me providing the right tools to build a good restaurant.

Mrs. Meade, First of all let me say that I am extremely flattered with all of your comments regarding our cuisine but even more importantly the staff recognition and their interaction with both of you. Without Emanuele, Vincent, Fernando, Marcia, and all others who are part of the team, Maestro would simply not be the same. I recognize everyday how lucky I am as a chef to be surrounded by those talents and this for me is as important as the quality of food we like to serve. With regards to how we develop new dishes, it basically happens the way you are making your questions. It depends on seasonal changes and what ingredients are available. The foundation of certain choices and combinations are based on Italian cuisine and often I take the freedom to express myself through them. Most of the changes we have I always share with Stefano Frigerio who has been a loyal and extremely talented sous chef for the past 8 years as well as Nicholas Stefanelli, an upcoming "star" in our kitchen. With all of this being said there is always a touch of craziness and risk in coming up with a new dish and this is what pushes us to raise the bar and pressure ourselves everyday.

John, I am really happy you had a good time on your birthday and I am even more happy that you chose to join us to celebrate such an occasion. I am sorry that I was not available to speak to you that evening but I am sure that we will be able to do so on a future opportunity I am sure.

Bill, the cusine that we are creating in Maestro is Italian. What we often do is take regional, classical dishes and reinterpret them as well as gastronomize them with contemporary cooking techniques and modern presentations as well as a personal touch. To answer the second part of your question there will be a lot to say in stating what is Italian cooking and what it takes to be classified as Italian. My personal opinion is that we have an extensive amount of regional dishes of all sorts, north to south. Probably our best exports are pastas, pizzas, and so forth but our diet is much more than that. Italy, like many other European countries, is rich in having mushrooms, game, beef, poultry, grains, and for all of those ingredients there is a dish that every family in Italy has a version for. My beautiful homeland over the past centuries has also been dominated by many other European countries and this is why there are many similarities with their cooking. To answer the third part of your question...yes there is a certain type of expectation to running an Italian restaurant. I believe those expectations are based on their own knowledge of Italian cuisine. Some people are exposed to the obvious and there is nothing wrong with that. Making a great pizza requires a great deal of skill... Others perhaps are more fortunate to have experienced the vast and extensive varieties of Italian cooking.

I would like to thank you Don for this opportunity to answer hopefully all the questions. I look forward to this week long chat. My father did grow up in a farm and was indeed a farmer himself as well as being a great self-taught cook. The economy of the region where I come from, Le Marche, was based on a share cropper system: Rich landlords were allowing families to live in and manage their multiple farmed properties in exchange for a substantial part of their profit. In the 1960's this type of agreements were beginning to disappear because of the increase of taxes on property lands and for the aggressive competition of mainstream agriculture. My father like many other families was forced to move out of a farm in his mid 20s and was forced to take on multiple jobs. By the time I arrived to this world he was a long haul truck driver working a great deal of hours every week. One way for him to remember his past times were to take me to his friends who were still living at the farms. We would shop for an entire day which mostly fell on Saturdays and then a big cookoff was due on Sunday. You can image what an Italian family feast was on such a day...

Any way we are able to help Mr. Lankford in order for him to continue to do what he is doing it is crucial. Thanks to him restaurants such as ours can consistently provide our guests his wonderful products. Mr. Lankford is not only a great farmer in love with his creation but also a wonderful person. It is always a pleasure to work with him and will continue to do so hereafter.