I AM FOR THE ITALIAN ELEVATED TABLE

Fabio Trabocchi (https://www.fabiotrabocchi.com/) is one of the most renowned Italian chefs in the world, particularly in the United States: he founded and runs various multiple award-winning restaurants including the Michelin-starred Fiola in Washington, DC. These are excerpts of the interview published in the Melius newsletter of this week (full version here https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-am-elevated-italian-table-culinary-identity-travels-scarpato-ssqde)

“The future of Italian cuisine outside of Italy is extraordinarily promising — but only for those willing to go deeper, not broader. For too long, "Italian restaurant" outside of Italy meant a kind of greatest-hits menu: pasta, pizza, tiramisu. That era is closing”.

“In the United States specifically, I see two diverging paths. One is the fast-casual Italian concept, which will continue to grow and commoditize. The other — the one I believe in — is the elevated Italian table: a place where the cuisine is treated with the same seriousness as French or Japanese fine dining, where the chef has a point of view rooted in real Italian culture and real Italian identity”.

“I believe guests will continue to move away from pure spectacle — the theatrical element of fine dining for its own sake — and toward authenticity and depth. They will want to feel that what is on the plate is true. That the hands that made it believed in it. In that sense, Italian cuisine is extraordinarily well-positioned. Authenticity is not a value we perform. It is something we inherit”.

"But the real question is what you do with those authentic elements. Italian cuisine at its finest is not a museum. It is a living tradition, and a living tradition evolves".

“Regional specificity is one of the great untold stories of Italian cuisine for international audiences. I believe that is where some of the most exciting Italian restaurants of the next decade will emerge".

“The challenge for fine dining Italian in the current environment is not demand… The fine dining Italian restaurants that will thrive are those that find a way to deliver extraordinary depth of experience with greater operational elegance”.

"I also believe strongly in the importance of a culinary identity that cannot be replicated. Michelin recognition matters — not as a marketing device, but as a confirmation that what you are doing is genuine and distinctive”.

“There is one concept that has lived in my imagination for many years: a small, deeply personal restaurant rooted entirely in the cooking of Le Marche. Not a fine dining tasting menu in the conventional sense, but something more intimate".

“The difficulty is not finding technically skilled cooks. It is finding chefs who carry Italian cuisine as a culture… I am deeply committed to mentorship for this reason".