New chef comes with nice references

NOT only is Fabio Trabocchi, 35, a great cook — he also has the executive skills to manage the Four Seasons’ large and complex kitchen, which hasn’t had a new boss since 1990.

That’s according to his former boss, Fiamma owner Stephen Hanson, who runs the city’s largest eatery empire, B.R. Guest.

“He’s a terrific manager” who will handle the “learning curve,” Hanson said of Trabocchi, whom he called “one of the top chefs in the country who stands up to anybody here.”

“He’s levelheaded and a businessman. His culinary expertise is beyond great, and he’s learned the New York palate.”

After the bad economy forced Hanson to close universally praised but relatively small Fiamma last winter, he thought so highly of Trabocchi that he tried recruiting him for a place in Washington, where the chef once worked. But Trabocchi liked New York too much to leave.

Hanson made those comments even before some snarking this week that Trabocchi might not be up to the job. A Times online column questioned whether Trabocchi was the “right fit” for the Four Seasons, as if being Italian might disqualify him for an American restaurant position previously held by Swiss-born chefs.

But Trabocchi successfully ran non-Italian restaurants before coming to interpretive-Italian Fiamma. At the Four Seasons, he’s inherited a great and loyal kitchen team that welcomed him warmly, he said. As for the menu, “There will not be an overnight change,” he said.

“I need to learn all aspects of the restaurant, and once I feel comfortable with all of that, then we’ll start on the menu.”