Dining

Forgiones land at Made L.V. for ‘Family Thing’ dinner

Image
Bryan Forgione

There’s nothing like getting together at your favorite neighborhood restaurant for a relaxed, delicious dinner with the family. This week at Made L.V., that dinner just happens to be with one of the most prominent culinary families in the country.

Father and son Larry and Bryan Forgione are the guest chefs at Made L.V.’s April 29 “It’s A Family Thing” dinner, serving up passed appetizers and three courses of classic, seasonally inspired American cuisine.

Bryan is executive chef at Buddy V’s at Venetian, sister restaurant to Tivoli Village’s Made L.V. He previously served with current colleague Kim Canteenwalla at Encore’s Society Café, and in 2012 he claimed victory on Iron Chef America competing with his older brother, Marc, also a chef and restaurateur.

Bryan and Larry Forgione.

Their father is Larry Forgione, one of the most influential of American chefs and a pioneer of the farm-to-table movement. Life magazine included him in its list of the “50 Most Influential Baby Boomers.” His New York restaurant An American Place was a legend. The James Beard Foundation awarded him “America’s Best Chef” in 1993, and he was named “Chef of the Year” by the Culinary Institute of America—where for the last two years he’s been teaching the American Food Studies curriculum he developed.

“My father is one of the people in American cooking most responsible for the partnerships you see today between fine dining and farmers,” Bryan says. “He’s really a pioneer, and what he’s doing now at the Culinary, teaching students how to farm as well as [cook] and the natural way of doing things, he’s kind of come full circle.”

This is not the first Forgione family team-up in Las Vegas; Larry, Bryan and Marc got together for a Life Is Beautiful cooking demo last year. “Family is extremely important to us,” says Bryan, who meets up with his brother next month for a food festival in Napa. “Cooking is the thing that always brings us together and gives us these opportunities to spend more time together.”

Larry agrees. “Whenever I have the opportunity to do some cooking with my sons, that’s always a big factor for me,” he says. Bryan and Marc spent a lot of time in the industry growing up, including meals at top restaurants when they were very young and summers spent working at An American Place. “It’s very rewarding,” to have his sons in the family business, Larry says, “particularly because they have accomplished so much. They were bitten by the bug and they ran with it, but when they were growing up I never thought they would go into this industry.

“It had to be their decision and I only helped in so much as what they asked from me, in advice and guidance for the most part. This career isn’t a job you take because you can’t think of anything else to do. You have to be passionate.”

That passion seems to run in the family, and it will be on display at the Made L.V. dinner as father and son will be presenting some of their personal favorite dishes. Among the opening snacks are Liberty Farms duck prosciutto with kumquat-spring onion preserves and peanut barbecue shrimp, “one of Bryan’s favorites as a kid,” Larry says. A farm salad pays tribute to Grandma Stella, the entrée will be Creekstone Farms’ smoked Black Angus loin, and dessert is the preferred choice of Beard himself—strawberry-rhubarb shortcake. “That was a pretty famous dish in his restaurant [An American Place] and my father had a relationship with James Beard, one of his mentors, so we’ll finish off the whole dinner doing that,” Bryan says.

It’ll be far from the average family dinner, a pretty big deal for a neighborhood restaurant in Las Vegas. For Bryan, it’ll be another chance to cook with dad. “Growing up, you know, we didn’t look at him as chef. He was our father. It wasn’t until we were fully into this whole world of cooking that people would come up to us, or we would meet these big chefs and so many times they would pay their respect and talk about how great our father is and how much of an influence he is. He’s made a huge impact.”

“It’s A Family Thing” April 29, 6:30 p.m., $39. Made L.V., Tivoli Village, 702-2000.

Tags: Dining
Share
Photo of Brock Radke

Brock Radke

Brock Radke is an award-winning writer and columnist who currently occupies the role of editor-at-large at Las Vegas Weekly magazine. ...

Get more Brock Radke
  • It’s a different kind of Mediterranean restaurant, drawing heavily from Mina’s Egyptian heritage to repackage familiar food with robust, Middle Eastern flavors.

  • On our last visit we were lucky to try the special of the day, filet mignon wrapped in crispy pancetta with a mound of Parmesan ...

  • Experience unmatched March basketball viewing parties in Las Vegas! Join SAHARA Las Vegas, Resorts World, South Point and more from March 21-24 for large screens, ...

  • Get More Dining Stories
Top of Story