Marc Forgione, New York

 

If you love fauxhawks, great food, and Iron Chefs, you've met your match in Forgione. With his successful flagship restaurant Marc Forgione, Khe-Yo, a Southeast Asia-inspired spot, and American Cut, a steakhouse opening in New York City this fall, we’d say this is quite an auspicious start for the enticing restauranteur. There’s just something deliciously decadent about Forgione’s food. Whether it’s his classic American dishes or the comfortable yet elegant ambiance at his restaurants, you’ll keep coming back for more. P.S. Ask him about his “sauce proposal” next time you spot him outside the kitchen.

Date-night dinner: I cook a light meal, something grilled if possible. I don’t want to put her in a food coma. Then I'll concentrate on making a killer brunch the next day with scrambled eggs, champagne, and caviar.

Favorite way to sweat: I love snowboarding, but because of time constraints, I created a 45-minute workout for myself that involves weights and cardio.

Food splurge: When I'm vacation in the Caribbean, the local crayfish go down like butta.

When Marc Forgione began asking his famous culinary father for money as a teenager, dad insisted he work for it. So the kitchens where Forgione used to toddle around as a youngster, including the iconic An American Place, became the testing grounds of his young adulthood. Forgione (the younger) spent college summers working the line, and after earning a degree in hotel and restaurant management, he returned to work briefly for his father before going on to work for Patricia Yeo at AZ, Pino Maffo at Pazo, and Laurent Tourondel at BLT Steak.

Forgione then sent himself to France. With posts in three of Michel Guérard’s top restaurants, Forgione got more than a lesson in French discipline; he came away with a deeper relationship with the ingredients and a sense of humility in the kitchen that still informs his perspective today. After working again for Tourondel, who entrusted him to oversee the opening of many BLT outlets as corporate chef, Forgione finally opened his own place, aptly named Marc Forgione.

The restaurant earned many accolades, including a Michelin star in its first year and a second in 2011, and Forgione was named a StarChefs.com Rising Star in 2010. Between the success of his restaurant, his victory in season three of “The Next Iron Chef,” and opening his Atlantic City restaurant, American Cut,Forgione has solidified his own place—outside of his father’s shadow—as an independent force in American cuisine. In summer 2013, Forgione opened his second New York restaurant, the Southeast Asian-inspired Khe-Yo in Tribeca.

Marc Forgione
134 Reade Street
New York, NY 10013
(212) 941-9401
www.marcforgione.com