Three Dishes with Marc Forgione

This column invites you on an adventure to great restaurants around the world to meet the amazing chefs, mixologists, restaurateurs and sommeliers behind them and the foods that inspired their work today. This week, we sit down with Chef Marc Forgione of Marc Forgione to find out which dishes shaped his cooking style and outlook today.

The son of culinary legend Larry Forgione, who revolutionized American-style cooking in the 70's and 80's, Forgione embraced his father's livelihood completely and is currently on track to establish himself as a star in his own right. Forgione began his career at the tender age of 16, joining his father in the kitchen at An American Place. When it came time for college, he opted for a traditional four-year education at University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he graduated from the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management. He later worked under Patricia Yeo, and when Yeo and celebrated Chef Pino Maffeo opened Pazo, they took Forgione along to serve as Sous Chef at the short-lived eatery. When Laurent Tourondel set out to develop his flagship, BLT Steak, he recruited Forgione as his Sous Chef. In an effort to diversify his experience, Forgione left for France where he secured a series of humble posts under Michel Guerard in Eugenie les Bains. When he returned to New York, he promptly reunited with Tourondel, who invited the now seasoned chef to serve as chef de cuisine at BLT Prime.

With Marc Forgione, formerly known as Forge, Forgione's first restaurant, he has created an approachable place "that people walk by and are compelled to enter and where the ingredients are the star." The restaurant earned the distinction of being named "Key Newcomer" by Zagat Guide 2009, "Top 25 Restaurants in NYC" by Modern Luxury magazine and "All Star Eatery" by Forbes magazine. Forgione was awarded "Star Chefs Rising Star of the Year Award 2010"; named "Rising Star 2008" from Restaurant Hospitality magazine and mentioned "New Formalist" by Esquire magazine in 2008. Most Recently, Forgione was crowned the honor of "Iron Chef" on Season 3 of "The Next Iron Chef" on Food Network, bringing his expertise and creativity to Kitchen Stadium and the Chairman's group of culinary greats.

Marc Forgione, Chef/Owner

What is the dish that:

1. Inspired your love of food?

I was about 10 or 11 years old and I was eating dinner at my father's restaurant, An American Place, and he served a crab cake with a smoked onion remoullade and a Charleston slaw. It sounds a lot fancier than it is. As a little kid, food is something that just fills your belly; it is just something you have to have before you can go back out and play. And I remember I took a bite of this crabcake and I looked up at my mom and was like, "Mom, I didn't know food could make you feel like this." It was the first time in my life I realized food could make you smile. For me, that was the beginning of my love affair with food.

2. Is your signature?

There are a couple now as the restaurant gets older, but if I have to pick one it is the Hiramasa Tartare, with Avocado, Sechuan Buttons, and Toasted Pine Nuts.] The menu changes here all the time, but the "signatures" stay. When we make a dish good enough that people get really pissed off if it comes off the menu, then we know we have a signature. This one was the last one to make it onto the original menu and it is the only dish that is still on the menu from the opening day. But it is very simple--just a tartare of Hiramas (an Australian kingfish), olive oil, salt, minced cucumber for crunch, smashed avocado, and a sauce that we make from homemade teriyaki, a little mustard oil, honey, lime juice and a little extra virgin olive oil. And the circus part of the dish is that we serve this little flower called the Sechuan button that is like nature's pop rocks. You put this on your tongue and your mouth starts to tingle, and it elevates your palate. It is more like an experience than just eating a dish.

3. You cook on your night off?

Roast chicken. My girlfriend is obsessed with it. Chefs don't get too many nights off, and we like to go and see what else is out there. But I will get a text from my girlfriend saying, "Can we please stay in? Can you make the roast chicken?" And I do. The garnish changes depending on the season.

— Written by Anjali Kumar

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Tags : Marc Forgione, Szechuan, An American Place

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