Max Fath had no plans to open a new version of Toscano Café Bistro, the Mediterranean restaurant in Richmond that his parents had owned for 14 years. For years after its 2017 closure, if anyone asked him about relaunching the business, where he'd worked full time for a decade, "It would hav e been a resounding, 'Hell, no! I would never own a restaurant,'" Fath, 35, said with a laugh. He recounted this last week while sitting at a white linen-draped table in his own Toscano Bistro, which — despite previous emphatic declarations — Fath opened in December in Williston. The sign from the Richmond Toscano hangs in the center of the new restaurant, which seats 110, double the original. The same decorative painter did the warm marbling on the walls of both restaurants. Aside from those details, the concrete-floored, high-ceilinged, suburban venue feels very different from the intimate, century-old, small-town home of its predecessor. But fans of Jon Fath and Lucie Bolduc-Fath's Richmond spot will find the menu largely familiar. Rich mushroom ravioli ($29) still swims in an indulgently creamy roasted garlic-and-gorgonzola sauce. Pasta Bolognese ($32) retains a notable smokiness thanks to the "healthy hit of bacon" included in his father's recipe, Max said. The classic shrimp and scallop fra diavolo ($34) comes with a moderately devilish kick to its marinara. That continuity is partly thanks to the new Toscano chef, 36-year-old Dan Gutches, who learned from Jon, now 70, while cooking by his side in Richmond. Gutches is one of the reasons that Max ended up doing what he swore he'd never do. Max was 13 when his parents launched the original Toscano. Jon had started out as a drummer on the bar-and-wedding band circuit, his son said, but decided to apply his creative energy to a New England Culinary Institute degree to provide a more stable family income. The middle of three sons, Max bused tables as a young teen and rose to become "Mom and Dad's main guy" after he graduated from high school, he said. Though he enjoyed working in the cozy eatery, he didn't have the same passion for restaurants as his father. "I definitely don't possess the artistic gene that my father does," Max said. "I'm numbers. I'm business." After his parents retired, he got his real estate license. "When I was a kid, I watched Scrooge McDuck dive into his… ...read more read less