The cooking in Recanati is traditional Marche cuisine — the standard pasta-and-meat dishes of central Italy, with a strong inflection from the nearby Adriatic. Local specialities to look out for: vincisgrassi, a regional version of lasagne layered with chicken livers, sweetbreads and porcini in a rich ragù; olive all'ascolana, large green olives stuffed with seasoned meat, breaded and deep-fried; stoccafisso all'anconetana, salt cod cooked with potatoes and tomatoes, served further north in Ancona but common on Marche menus.
Recanati is in the heart of Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi country — a crisp white wine that goes particularly well with the seafood — and you will find good bottles on every list. For reds, look for Rosso Conero, made from Montepulciano grapes grown on the limestone of the Conero peninsula not far from here.
Most restaurants are inside the old town walls; reservations are sensible at the weekends. Lunch is normally served from 12:30 to 14:30 and dinner from 19:30 or 20:00.