How Marc Forgione Creates His Unique Dishes Not Seen Elsewhere - Exclusive
Marc Forgione is a New York City chef known for Italian dishes that are anything but ordinary. He likes to mix things up and make them his own by creating unique plates that you can't find anywhere else. He's been known to play with sourdough bread to make pizza dough in his Nolita restaurant Peasant and is currently having fun making pasta out of local vegetables from the Union Square Farmer's Market at the newly opened One Fifth in Greenwich Village.
During an exclusive interview with Tasting Table, Forgione discussed how he takes a particular ingredient, such as uni, and creates an entire Italian dish around it. "The uni, for example, was brought to us by one of our purveyors, and when we tasted it, we built a dish around it, which is what Italians do — take something that you really like, and you figure out how to make it shine." According to Forgione, it's a skill that's very much a part of his family's legacy.
Marc Forgione is all about the family recipes
Marc Forgione's latest restaurant One Fifth combines Italian tradition and New York surroundings to make one impressive menu. This particular concept is one Forgione grew up with in his family. "We're focusing this whole restaurant concept on the way that the Forgios eat at home," he said. "When we have a holiday or birthday party or something, it's very food-centric. My dad's a chef, I'm a chef, my brother's a chef, my mom's a great cook, [and] my sister's a manager of Peasant, so everybody pitches in and there's food all over the table, and little portions, and it keeps coming out. We don't really sit in the living room; we sit in the kitchen. That's what we wanted to do with One Fifth. That's why I set up the menu the way it is, where you can sit there and order for an hour and get to taste a whole bunch of different things."
If you dine at One Fifth, you'll be sure to find plenty of unique dishes on the menu you aren't seeing elsewhere. One of the many that might catch your eye is the duck in the jar, which Forgione explained is an old family recipe made during the holidays. "The duck in a jar is ... a family recipe that I've been making for years," he shared. "In particular, for Christmas, I used to make it for my grandmother, who is no longer with us, but we always have some type of duck liver or foie gras mousse. The way that we make it is like a straightforward pate — duck livers, a little foie gras, shallots, heavy cream — and then we serve it with the very Italian American giardiniera."
One Fifth is open from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Reservations are available via Resy, with tables held for walk-ins. To learn more, please visit One Fifth's website and follow One Fifth on Instagram.