Not yet thirty (born in 1996), Richard Abou Zaki, chef of the restaurant Retroscena in Porto San Giorgio, embodies a deeply Italian cuisine where Marche tradition becomes an experimental table of modernity. Born in Romania but raised in Italy among the stoves (out of both necessity and passion), he made cooking his destiny since childhood. “The courage to change,” he says, “is what makes you make mistakes, take risks, and grow. But you also need the courage to stay.” This is a lesson received from Massimo Bottura, of whom he is a pupil. He once told him: “Learn to root yourself in the ground, because in the storm, you must know how to remain.” With Retroscena, Richard narrates his identity in the making, where the protagonist of the dish is not the storytelling but the ability to convey taste, memory, and emotion. Such is the Risotto cooked in Ascolana tender olive extract, turbot broth, and Adriatic amberjack with wild fennel: a dish that ideally transports us to an olive mill and speaks of the territory with great depth. Richard, with only seven tables and a flow of over a thousand customers a year, proves that fine dining is not dead: it has simply changed. Just like him.
