In the spring of 2017, travelling through her native country of Italy, Monica Russo, co-owner of Zeno’s on the Square, an upscale, Italian restaurant located in downtown Weatherford, Texas, met Chef “Max” Zubboli. She immediately fell in love with his food and the artistry of his work.
Chef Max has an impressive resume. He graduated from a prestigious culinary school in Pisa, and trained under a number of famous Italian chefs in the Versilia area north of Tuscany along the Tyrrhenian coast.
Chef Max worked to create a number of new restaurant concepts and practiced his culinary skills from cooking to running the front of the house. His extensive hands on experience, professional training, and passion for new projects made him the perfect choice to help Monica and her younger brother Zeno (the manager and restaurants’ namesake) develop Zeno’s on the Square.
At the invitation of Russo, Max arrived in Texas a year before the restaurant was scheduled to open. The purpose of the trip was to allow him to experience the Lone Star State as a tourist. A highlight of his visit was attending the 2017 National Cutting Horse Association Futurity in Fort Worth. It was love at first sight. Zeno’s on the Square had found their Executive Chef.
Soon after, Max, Monica and Zeno finalized the restaurant concept, hired a team and opened Zeno’s on the Square in June of 2018. The restaurant serves fresh, homemade, authentic Northern Italian dishes and offers a full bar and extensive collection of carefully selected, fine Italian wines. Max’s wife Antonella, who he met in culinary school, and a talented Chef in her own right, works with Monica to create fresh homemade pasta and delicious made from scratch desserts from Mamma Monica’s Restaurant, located at 5107 New Tin Top Road in Weatherford.