Bryan Forgione, second son to chef Larry Forgione, began cooking at a young age, helping out in the kitchen at his father’s restaurant “An American Place.” Bryan attended the Culinary Institute of America and worked in a number of well-respected restaurants, including Above and Union Square Café. Bryan worked with his father again as corporate Executive Sous Chef, opening up six Signature Cafes in Lord & Taylors across the Northeast before going to Saint Louis, MO to open “An American Place.”

It was in St. Louis that Bryan befriended a local pitmaster who went by the name of “Bear” at Smokin Al’s BBQ where he learned the tricks of the trade on his 250 gallon oil drum bbq pit. He took that knowledge and went back to New York, where the BBQ scene was just starting to flourish, and successfully opened opened “Swingbelly’s Beach Side BBQ” in Long Island as Pitmaster/Executive Chef, where he received rave reviews from the local press. Bryan is currently working as the Chef de Cuisine in Café Society in Las Vegas, NV at Steve Wynn’s Encore.