Hi foodies! I went to the Forgione cooking class at De Gustibus and it was a ton of fun. It was such an incredible experience and a fun class. Also the food that they made was outstanding.
This De Gustibus class was like no other. Instead of having one super talented chef cook before you, this class had three amazing chefs cooking. Iconic chef, Larry Forgione and two of his children, Marc Forgione, Iron Chef and chef/owner of Marc Forgione in New York City and Bryan Forgione, executive chef of Society Cafe at the Encore in Las Vegas. Larry's other two kids were there as well. His third son is not a professional chef but has just started in the food business and is a line cook at a restaurant on Long Island but he said he won't be there much longer. Larry's last kid and only daughter was just in the audience and is not in the food industry at all. Larry and all four of his kids were at the class as well as Larry's mother. We had almost the whole Forgione family at De Gustibus. It was an experience like no other.
Since there were three chefs actually cooking, they had this system that Marc would cook one dish and then Bryan would cook a dish. Larry sat at the end of the demonstration counter and only cooked one dish which was dessert. They all had their own wealth of knowledge and share of crazy stories. Stories of how each of them found their way into the food industry and crazy times like when Marc had a pan thrown at his head.
Moving on to what they cook, the meal started with one Amuse Bouche prepared by Marc and the other Amuse Bouche prepared by Bryan. Marc made a caesar salad but this was no ordinary caesar salad. This caesar salad was very typical until Marc put his crazy spin on it by making this Parmesan sphere which is made with Xanthan Gum, Calcium Lactate Gluconate, Sodium Alginate and Parmesan cream. These egg shaped delicacies bursts right in your mouth and taste really good.
The second Amuse Bouche was prepared by Bryan. He made Buffalo Carpaccio which was really delicious.
Next was appetizers, one dish made by Marc and the other by Bryan. Marc made Baby White Asparagus in Ambush. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever tasted.
Bryan made Peanut BBQ Shrimp & Red Pepper Slaw. The shrimp was really good and the slaw was amazing.
For the main course Marc made Free Range Chicken Under a Brick made with Black Pig Meat Co. Bacon hash browns and bitter greens which was a really great dish.
For dessert, Larry came up to make Jim Beard's Strawberry Shortcake. The rest of the family came up and helped out. I thought the strawberry shortcake was great.
This class was so much fun and like no other. The food was impeccable and all the Forgione's were so friendly. I plan on going to Marc Forgione's restaurant very soon.
Before I end this post I want to apologize because I really haven't been posting like usual. These past few months have been tough for me to post and when I was about done with this post I forgot to save it and lost most of it. I reassure you foodies that in the next few weeks I will be posting more often again with lots more restaurant reviews and food events in New York City and Long Island. Bon Apetit!
-Mike
