The River Club Restaurant, the latest enterprise of the Sacco family, just celebrated its grand opening in Beijing.

Often invited to particpate as a Master Chef at international food festivals such as Gourmet Abu Dhabi, the World Gourmet Summit in Singapore and Lust auf Genuss in Germany, Chef Sacco was a judge at the San Pellegrino Cooking Cup in Venice, ran the restaurant created for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino and has been featured in numerous cooking shows on Italian TV. Chef Sacco trained under some of Europe’s finest master chefs, including Verge of Moulin de Mougins, Raimbault of Restaurant L’Oasis and Vissani of Ristorante Vissani. He and his brother Carlo, sommelier at Piccolo Lago, own and operate the family enterprise.

Chef Sacco’s professional philosophy has been tempered by culinary tradition, which has its origins not only in peasant culture, but also in the geography of the region and the various foreign cultures that were integrated there over the centuries. The variety of quality products, protected by a profound sense of tradition, were the basis of a home cuisine that was then shared with outsiders through family-run inns and taverns. Chef Sacco grew up in the business. His parents opened their first restaurant the month he was born, an influence that was the framework of his formative years.

“My cuisine is deeply rooted in my territory. For the most part, I use products that can be found in a 50-kilometer radius of my restaurant. Limiting myself to what the local area has to offer may seem penalizing, but I live in a territory that is rich in culture, history and products. When I’m in the kitchen, I have no limits whatsoever.”

–Chef Marco Sacco