Chef Marco Canora (Hearth) 5/21/11 VS Chef Marc Forgione 6/12/11

  

So Season 3 of the Next Iron Chef had Chef Marco Canora pitted again Chef Marc Forgione and Marc Forgione came out the winner.  How would I judge them after eating at both of their restaurants, Hearth and Restaurant Marc Forgione?

We dined at Hearth on May 21st with our usual dining companions (and best friends) Joe & Jeanette.  It was  a superb experience from beginning to end.  We somehow got lucky and were seated at the table closest to the open kitchen where the chefs were busy and it was more like watching a well orchestrated show than a kitchen.  We spotted Chef Marco and he was gracious enough to come over to our table and say hi.  Actually, he checked on us again later on during our meal just to see if we were having a good experience.  Were we ever!  The servers are some of the best I've ever experienced.  The food was impeccable...and we left there satisfied, and I, personally have to admit this...now have my first chef crush.

Chef Marco at his "stage"

Whole Roasted Fish of the Day with roasted potatoes, fennel, and red onion

   Sirloin for 2 and Roasted Fish for 2

So now on to Restaurant Marc Forgione.   Wow, it's a stunning space in Tribeca.

Walking in directly in front of us was non other than Food Network star Alton Brown...pretty exciting, we're big fans.  We were seated at the table right across from him, which was pretty cool.  And on the other side of our table, we could see right into the kitchen and Chef Marc at work, also cool.  Our server...not as much.  He had about as much personality as a wet noodle, not very helpful and what seemed to be a bad attitude.  It was so disappointing and really affected our whole dining experience there.



We were given 2 amuse bouches to begin....one was a gooseberry with mustard seeds and the other was something with yogurt sauce..we weren't quite sure what it was.  For my appetizer I had the big eye tuna which was great..it was served in a bowl with an asian sauce, and it was raw.  For my main course Marc and I shared Chef Marc's signature dish, Bell & Evans Chicken Under a Brick, Yukon Potatoes, and Broccoli Rabe with Pan Drippings.  We both agreed that it was delicious, but weren't "blown away". 

Dessert was wonderful....Fudge Brownie with Coffee Hazelnut Ice Cream, Nutella, and Cocoa Marshamallows...very yummy.

Hands down, all 4 of us agreed that our dinner at Hearth far exceeded this meal in every aspect except for one, and that would be the atmosphere.  Chef Marco Canora is the winning chef in my book!