A Family That Cooks Together, Stays Together
The Forgiones are among the most distinguished families in the culinary world. On Monday evening Iron Chef Marc Forgione joined his brother Bryan (executive sous-chef of Society Café in Las Vegas) and father Larry (a culinary icon known for promoting local eating) in the kitchen.
The dinner, which was held at De Gustibus Cooking School, marks the first time the three Forgione men have come together as chefs. Marc reflected on the evening, "I was a little nervous at first to do the demo with my family. i mean who really wants other people to look in on "family time" (other than the kardashians) but once we got up there and going it felt awesome. some of the dishes i did, i havent tried in over 10 years and they were just as good as i remembered them. it was cool to show some respect to my dad......he deserves it."
Marc and Bryan designed the evening's menu as a tribute to their father's notable career, including asparagus in ambush parsley sauce and peanut BBQ shrimp. Marc made a version of his signature chicken under a brick, served with Black Pig Meat Co. bacon hash browns. For dessert the chefs riffed off on Larry's classic old-fashioned strawberry shortcake (a recipe he learned from James Beard).
Throughout the evening, the Forgione chefs talked about the ways that their culinary philosophies have influenced one another, and Marc and Bryan shared childhood memories of growing up in the kitchen with their father. Marc explained, "When I was around 17 years old, I was working at An American Place and Alfred Portale came in to dine. I had saved the hash browns I prepped from the day before thinking I was being resourceful and sent them out to Portale. I got screamed at like crazy – even had a pan thrown at me. I serve those hash browns with the Chicken Under a Brick dish at my restaurant now and often think of that story when I send them out on the floor."
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