Fabio Trabocchi Shows Me the Future of The Four Seasons: Part One

"It is like retuning a classic, beautiful car and bringing it back to mint condition." - Chef Fabio Trabocchi on working at The Four Seasons Restaurant in Manhattan.

Global warming is not the only force of nature likely to effect what happens to  The Four Seasons. While Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall appear to be changing before our very eyes due to the on-going effects of global climate change, a more creative, welcome and constructive force is at work in the kitchen of the legendary, 50 year-old, Philip Johnson designed, Park Avenue, New York City restaurant, known as The Four Seasons. Chef Fabio Trabocchi, formerly of Fiamma in NYC and Maestro in McClean, VA just outside of Washington, D.C., took over the kitchen of this venerable institution this past October, as the restaurant moved to fill the position vacated in June by the untimely passing of Chef Christian Albin. In Chef Trabocchi they secured an experienced, but still young chef with skill, creativity, vision and a respect for tradition. His approach at Maestro and Fiamma was to use Italian traditions as a base, influenced and colored by global perspective.

Like with global warming, the climate shift at The Four Seasons is likely to be gradual. The restaurant is most well known for being the center of the Universe for the so-called "Power Lunch" as was recently highlighted in The New York Times. As such, it has many rich and powerful clients, "60-70%" of whom, according to Trabocchi, already have their minds set on what to order, when they sit down for lunch. That is not necessarily a bad thing when they are doing 250 or so covers in an hour. On the other hand, many repeat clients just look to order the special of the day, rather than choosing repetitively from the regular menu. To "test" things, Trabocchi has begun introducing "specials" based on his own dishes and has so far received "a good response" from those clients. When he started, Trabocchi was most concerned about resistance to change from the restaurant's regular clients, but based upon the response to his specials that hasn't been a problem.

In addition to working with the restaurant's generally conservative client base, Trabocchi also has to work with the large kitchen staff, many of whom have been on the line there for years cooking a certain way. While they do what they do very well, many of the longer termed cooks haven't been exposed to much else or to newer techniques, something which has to be taught step by step. According to Trabocchi, "there are 26 people (in the kitchen) to train and it is going to take a while" considering that they all have to continue to perform their usual routine on a daily basis. The chef anticipates that it will be a year or so before he is comfortable instituting his full culinary vision at the restaurant. He is not in a hurry and wants to make sure that it gets done right. The last piece of the puzzle involves training the front of the house to know the details of his cooking intimately. That may be even more important at a restaurant like The Four Seasons with so many empowered regulars as it is elsewhere, as they are likely to be less tolerant of a menu that is not very well known by the waiter.

I came to The Four Seasons when I did, because it was the first chance I had to visit since Chef Trabocchi took over the kitchen. My wife and I used to attend wine dinners such as their annual Fete du Bordeaux back in the 1990's, but for a variety of reasons our interest and ability to attend those events waned. I was thrilled, however, when last spring, we were invited to attend The Four Seasons 50th Birthday Party. I had forgotten just how wonderful the room and the restaurant could be. The place has an aura that is magic and rare. Even though we drove down  and back three hours each way just to be there for the evening, the event had a can't miss feel to it and we were exhausted, but glad that we didn't miss it. Then, just days later, Four Seasons Chef Christian Albin sadly died, creating the void that would ultimately be filled by Chef Trabocchi.

Albin had run the restaurant traditionally and though it no longer had the cachet that it had once had amongst serious food enthusiasts, the food was still very well prepared and delicious. Trabocchi meanwhile earned the favor and enthusiasm of many a food aficionado through his daring Italian based cooking, first at Maestro and then most recently at Fiamma in NYC, where just 8 months prior to his taking the job at The Four Seasons, he was the City's first high profile casualty of the new Recession as the elaborate, but wonderful Fiamma was closed. Having first met Chef Trabocchi at the 2007 Starchefs Congress and then having had an amazing meal at Fiamma, I was dismayed at Fiamma's closing, but confidant that Chef Trabocchi would resurface, hopefully somewhere within striking distance. When it turned out to be The Four Seasons, I was both ecstatic and slightly nervous. I was ecstatic, because, unlike the room at Fiamma, Trabocchi would now be in a space commensurate with his food and nervous, because of a concern with how he and his food would conform to the restaurant. Was this to be a job or the seizing of a great stage? Hoping for the latter, I aimed to find out.

In Part Two of this report, I will detail the meal that was served to me. In full disclosure, I went to the restaurant not knowing what to expect food wise, but fully expecting to pay my full bill. In the end, I received a meal more indicative of what Chef Trabocchi is hoping to serve a year from now, a meal cooked personally by him and another chef, one not currently available to the general public and one for which my credit card was turned away, though a rather sizable cash gratuity was not.

Comments

[Cocolovie]

More than anything this sounds like you were given a free meal in a fantastic setting. If you were not eating from the current menu, which by the way Trabocchi has indeed had his hands on - as well he should now three full month since taking his post as Chef, than what is the purpose of this post?

Further, The Four Seasons has always been about one thing and one thing only - offering the most personal and gracious hospitality experience to the most discerning clientele on the planet - global warming or not.

It is a restaurant with a soul of it's own, not a new place seeking an image or identity. If Mr. Trabocchi intends to bring a revolutionary climate to a restaurant and is seeking a great stage to promote himself, it should be at a restaurant that he owns himself. The Four Seasons has thrived as New York's arbiter of taste for the last 50 years. The duck, and crab cakes and sole and the rest of the seasonally driven menu are timeless and revolutionary as is the room, the service, the attention to detail and the unwavering commitment to the customers and the culture that is The Four Seasons.

While I truly hope your meal was delicious and your experience unparalleled in every way, I must recommend the following idea. Rather than a radical climate change, Trabocchi is single rain occurring in an eternity of systems. Let's hope his rain is calming, restorative, enlivening and not catastrophic.

So looking forward to your next post.

[John Sconzo]

Thank you for your passionate response. I agree that The Four Seasons is a very special, indeed unique, restaurant in every respect. I dont think that Chef Trabocchi would disagree.  I dont believe that I ever said anything about revolutionary in terms of the cuisine that Mr. Trabocchi is bringing to the restaurant. Delicious, extraordinary and other similar words, I most definitely did use. I may have even used the term creative. I dont believe that I ever said or implied that I viewed the current menu with anything but respect. I did use the word conservative in discussing Chef Albins approach, but my tone was not disparaging. Mr. Trabocchi is respecting those very same traditions and so far as I know will continue to do so. At the same time, he is adding his own culinary vision slowly and carefully into the mix. The meal I had, which I fully divulged was comped, was noteworthy, because it gives an idea of the kind of food one can expect down the line at The Four Seasons in addition to what is currently available.  It is a combination that in my opinion will not only adhere to this great and venerable restaurants current hospitality standards, but make them even more expansive and exciting. I very much liked The Four Seasons prior to Chef Trabocchis arrival, but I absolutely loved every aspect of my experience there the other evening. The restaurant has the opportunity to be great not only in terms of its hospitality, but for every aspect of its offering. I wish him and The Four Seasons the very best.