Marc Forgione
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Celebrity ChefCHEF MARC FORGIONE
Chef Marc Forgione is the chef/owner of Restaurant Marc Forgione and Peasant and is the co-owner/partner of Khe-Yo. Chef Forgione began his career at the age of 16, joining his father, Larry Forgione (a culinary legend who revolutionized American-style cooking in the '70s and '80s), in the kitchen at An American Place.
Forgione opted for a traditional four-year education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he graduated from the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management. He spent his summers working the line at restaurants such as Above in New York, with acclaimed chef Kazuto Matsusaka. These stints would lay the groundwork for Forgione's post-collegiate toils, again alongside his father at An American Place and later under Patricia Yeo at AZ. 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 and worked at three of the region's finest restaurants, Le Pres D'Eugenie, Ferme aux Grives and Le Cuisine Minceur. Upon his return to New York, Forgione promptly reunited with Tourondel, who invited the now seasoned chef to serve as chef de cuisine at BLT Prime. Forgione was later named corporate chef for the BLT Restaurant Group, a position that enabled him to expand the BLT brand across the country.
With Marc Forgione (www.marcforgione.com), 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." Restaurant Marc Forgione was awarded its first Michelin star in 2010. In addition, Forgione received a two-star review from Sam Sifton of The New York Times, who noted, “Mr. Forgione’s food is sometimes sweet. Other times, it is salty, sour or spicy. Sometimes it is all four — and loudly so. The brashness is deeply and above all American: an augmentation of international cuisines in a land of plenty.” The restaurant also earned the distinction of being named "Key Newcomer" by Zagat Guide, "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"; named "Rising Star" from Restaurant Hospitality magazine and mentioned "New Formalist" by Esquire magazine. In 2010, Chef Forgione won season 3 of Food Network’s “The Next Iron Chef” at just 31 years old, making him the youngest chef to earn the title.
In 2013, Marc founded the steakhouse American Cut (www.americancutsteakhouse.com), opened with LDV Hospitality in New York City and Atlanta.
In summer 2013 he opened a Laotian restaurant, Khe-Yo (www.kheyo.com), with Executive Chef Soulayphet Schwader. Khe-Yo features cuisine from Laos, where Chef Schwader was born, and uses both local and authentic ingredients. In 2014, Chef Forgione became an author as well with the release of “Marc Forgione: Recipes and Stories from the Acclaimed Chef and Restaurant.”
In January 2020, Marc took over Peasant, an Italian restaurant specializing in handmade pastas, wood-fired dishes, and Italian wines served in a warm and refined setting. Originally opened in 1999, Chef Frank DeCarlo built much of Peasant with his own two hands and served the kind of rustic Italian food that he always wanted to eat. Chef Frank, along with his wife Dulcinea Benson who ran the front of the house, operated one of the most beloved neighborhood spots for over twenty years until he decided to ask Chef Marc Forgione to take over the restaurant.
In addition to supporting numerous NYC charities, Chef Forgione is a Chef Ambassador for Family Reach Foundation, Chefs for Kids Cancer, City Harvest, Feeding America, and Honorary Advocate of the Saint Pio Foundation.
