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episode one butcher chop house retrogusto and apizza

Oscar checks out three top restaurants in Boquete, Panama, in this segment of Oscar on the Streets. Butcher Chop House, Retro Gusto and APizza

Bio of Davide Care by Oscar Peña

Boquete as one of the main spots for people to come and retire has become also a place for young expats to start new projects and be part of the economy of the town.

This short biography is dedicated to Mr. Davide Care who came in 2015 to check Boquete as a possible place to live and start his project opening a Italian Restaurant.

Davide, is originally from Turin, Italy and moved to Germany when he was only 19 years old to start his journey as a chef which has being so far, a bit over 20 years.

 He lived in several countries in Europe like: Germany ( 3 years), France ( 6 months studying fine cousine), Singapore, Switzerland and Luxemburg ( 3 years ) all the time gaining experience and studying to become a outstanding chef. He also went back to Italy to apply his knowledge and work at the restaurant "CAMBIO" then he went back to Singapore and worked at the top 7 best restaurants in the world.

 

In 2006 he went to Shanghai and opened a chain of restaurants, and met his wife and business partner Mrs. Ziling Meng, where they stay together until they decided to move somewhere in Latin America, in pursuit of a lower stress live style as he was used to, and to find a way to open a restaurant, but without the madness of the big cities he was.

They traveled from United States to Panama City looking for a place to finally settle in, he visited Mexico, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica then lived in Casco Viejo, Panama City for about a year, but he felt even though the area was beautiful, he wanted something more chill, and with a better sense of community.

He heard about Boquete and decided to come and give a look, of course we know what happens once you come here for the first time right? He and his wife fell in love with this town and decided to move and try their new adventure.

In order to make sure the community knew about them, they decided to get a mobile Pizza where they placed in Alto Boquete and started selling pizzas for $5 dollars.  The response was very good and people were already acknowledging them, also both are very people persons, so even better to connect with the community.

Back in 2015 Boquete was still growing and even today still does but in that time,  he added a nice touch with his experience, in the mean time they were gaining customers and friends, David was working to open "Retrogusto" their first restaurant with a high gourmet menu and making sure customer service was a big part of his concept. His younger brother Bruno came along too to help him to manage and train their staff is well.

Not to long after that he decides to give another option to the people of town or customers who wanted a simpler menu and lower prices, that's why he opened "Apizza". This place is one of the best spots to get a truly Italian pizza or delicious Calzones.

Then he thought maybe the community want to have another place to offer lunch menu since Retrogusto usually opens for dinner time, so he came out with "Otto's" a concept with a nice decor with that European touch and Italian recipes of comfort food.

Go and try their Momma's Special Meat Balls, one of their most popular dishes, Davide is a humble and charismatic man who tries to please everyone in his restaurants.

But they didn't stop there, Davide has also  plenty experience as a Butcher so he decided to connect Apizza and Retrogusto with the new restaurant "The Butcher" , this last one definitely had caused a positive impact with the different types of meats and ways to cooked and serve, he brought the smoking boxes concept which basically he cooked the meat on the grill and add different types of wood to add amazing flavors, this is a most do if you are wanting to try a different way to eat fancy cuts of beef.

He has cooked for very well-known people like: Lucciano Pavarotti, David Beckam (Famous English soccer player), president of Singapore, president of Italy, president of Malaysia and many more.

Davide, his wife and brother are now living the dream, sharing their knowledge, being part of the great community of Boquete and being as positive influence in Boquete as possible.

For us it's a pleasure to be able to share this type of stories that allows to get to know more about some business owners and exptas of Boquete.

We encourage you to go and try their restaurants, definitely is worth it!!

 

Until our next story,

Oscar

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