REVENGE is a dish best served cold? Not according to Neil Ferguson, the Scots-born chef who launched Gordon Ramsay's much-hyped foray into the shark-infested waters of New York's restaurant scene – and then got sacked for his efforts.
He is, however, currently serving his dish of revenge piping hot, in a stylish new restaurant. He is also receiving rave reviews from food critics and Hollywood stars including George Clooney and supermodel Cindy Crawford.
Ferguson, 36, is the com
eback kid. A direct descendant of David Livingstone, he refused to return home with his tail between his legs when Ramsay very publicly dumped him as chef de cuisine at the London NYC hotel in Manhattan. The ruthless rejection came after Ramsay's icily glamorous new restaurant got lukewarm reviews from influential writers, including the New York Times' powerful Frank Bruni, whose opinions can make or break a new restaurant in the food-obsessed city.
"It was a shock when Gordon sacked me, although actually he didn't do it himself," says Ferguson, who had been one of Ramsay's most loyal lieutenants, working for the irascible chef for more than ten years. "He got Chris (Hutcheson, Ramsay's business partner and father of his wife, Tana] to do it. I wasn't what they wanted, it seems, so I had to go. I knew the knives would be out after the Times review, but I accepted Gordon and Chris's decision because they're the bosses. It's their business, their money on the line and they were generous with me."
Ferguson was told to go home and tell his American wife, Shelley, the mother of their two-year-old son Archie, that he had lost his job, then given 24 hours to collect his stuff and leave.
Shortly afterwards, Ramsay was quoted in a New Yorker magazine profile saying that the Ferguson was too soft on staff. "Neil was being taken advantage of. I needed a rottweiller and I had a golden retriever instead," he said, despite having listed Ferguson in his autobiography, Humble Pie, as one of his magnificent seven young chefs, with the ability to stand the heat in his kitchens.
Now, though, the tables are turned and Ferguson is the one winning plaudits from foodies for his sophisticated and elegant cooking at Allen & Delancey, the new and very intimate Lower East Side restaurant, which the chef has made a huge success since it opened late last year.
You have to put your name on a waiting list to get a table for dinner, where your starter might be rabbit terrine, apple salad and violet mustard followed by cabbage, beef and onion, then chocolate peanut-butter tart. A meal for two costs a reasonable $125 (£63) including wine and service.
"It is everything that Ramsay's is not – relaxed, satisfying and popular," wrote critic Jay Rayner. Ferguson pithily sums up his cooking: "Tasty!"
"We got two stars from the (New York] Times," he says. He's a boyish figure in jeans and denim shirt, perched on a banquette in the bar area of the restaurant which is dark, decadent and candlelit, and is filled with funky antiques, oil paintings and swags of rich velvet.
"People have said that Mr Bruni's review read like a love letter, although I'd have liked more stars. But hey, we'll displaying dogged determination.
"Two stars is very good – a real achievement. It's what Gordon got," he adds, without a trace of rancour.
While Bruni pronounced Ramsay's menu at the achingly hip £3m London NYC as "cautious , using predictable ingredients", he wrote that his chef de cuisine was "running a serious kitchen, capable of impeccable work".
"I was pleased to be singled out after working 24/7 for months to get the London up and running and being responsible for a workforce of 220," says Ferguson. "I don't remember a time when I haven't worked 15-plus hours a day as a chef; I've always grafted because I'm ambitious. So there was no way I was going to leave New York. I was determined to prove myself – and I've an American wife, so we wanted to stay."
Within days he was offered the post of head chef at Monteverde in Oldstone Manor, a colonial inn in Westchester, an hour's drive from Manhattan. Now he divides his time between the two restaurants.
His imaginative cooking has won a nomination in Time Out New York's Newcomer of the Year awards, but it's been a year of ups and downs for the chef who, like Ramsay – whom he still regards as his mentor – is Scottish by birth although raised in England.
"I was down but not out. And I really wanted to crack New York," says Ferguson. To give Ramsay a metaphorical two-fingered salute, perhaps? "You may say so, I couldn't possibly comment," he says with a grin. "I know that with lots of hard work and another two years of expansion based on the feedback we're getting, we'll get four stars for Allen & Delancey. We're on our way already."
Some of New York's most renowned chefs have eaten Ferguson's food, including Thomas Keller, the second chef worldwide to have more than one restaurant awarded three Michelin stars, an achievement Ferguson insists he'll emulate. Keller's chef de cuisine, Jonathan Benno, who runs the triple-starred Per Se at Columbus Circle has also dined at Allen & Delancey.
They were very, very complimentary, says Ferguson,
The younger of two sons of Bill Ferguson, a bank manager from Wishaw, and Sheila, a cashier, from Millport, Ferguson insists he's a true Scotsman, despite his pronounced English accent. His parents met and married when they were both working for Barclays.
"We lived in Bournemouth, the New Forest and Winchester, because dad's job took him lots of places. However, I'm very much a Scot, but proud to be British. I don't see a conflict. On Calcutta Cup day, I somehow manage to root for both teams," he confesses.
"We've given Archie a good Scottish name and last year my dad and I carried him down Sixth Avenue to his baptism. We were all wearing Ferguson clan tartan kilts, even Archie was in full battledress, with a wee sporran, because we want him to grow up conscious of his roots. So we'll take lots of holidays in Scotland to see all the relatives. "I only wish I'd lived there more. I worked in Glasgow for eight months, with Gordon at Amaryllis, when it first opened," he says, referring to Ramsay's failed attempt to repeat his London successes at One Devonshire Gardens. "I think we pitched ourselves wrong. Glaswegians found the food a little too formal. But Gordon always says you learn from your mistakes. I've certainly learnt from mine."
It was in Scotland that the teenage Ferguson's interest in fine dining began. The family holidayed at the Kirroughtree Country House Hotel, near Newton Stewart in Dumfriesshire, in 1984. The chef had a Michelin star and the menu was incredible.
"I'd never tasted anything like it – I remember raspberry coulis, still a novelty back then. In my bedroom there were three copies of a magazine called Master Chef. I pinched them and started reading about big French chefs like Raymond Blanc and fabulous restaurants; I was really into it."
Soon he was taking over the kitchen from his mother, preparing little dinner parties.
Trained at Highbury College in Porstmouth, where he was top student three years running, his first job was at London's Le Gavroche. "I lasted ten weeks. I was using products I'd never seen before, langoustines and truffles, things I'd only read about because the college couldn't afford them. Frankly, I was way out of my depth.
"I got the sack, because I was making silly mistakes and I wasn't fast enough. I fell flat on my face."
Ferguson moved to Claridges, where he went back to basics. "It was a baptism of fire. I worked my backside off while earning a pittance and being shouted and screamed at. I was just one of 70 chefs."
He moved to La Tante Claire, but eventually walked out. "It's a big regret. I woke up one morning and didn't go back. I was a good guy, but there was an accumulation of things, like always being dropped in the s**t by the chef. Within a week I'd another job. I'm not big-headed but I'm talented and very motivated, although my career wasn't going anywhere until I met Gordon."
Ferguson became a chef de parti at Ramsay's Aubergine, the hottest ticket in London. Soon, he was promoted to sous chef.
"At Aubergine we were living on the edge, pure nervous energy. It was thrilling. Gordon was running – and you had to keep up with him. The restaurant was legendary. I worked 120 hours a week and had 18 hours off. I was living the life of a monk, but I knew Gordon was going to be massive and I wanted to be around him.
"It wasn't easy – he exposes all your faults and knocks you down, then builds you up again. He made me face my demons, but also consolidated my strengths. At the end of a year, I was a much more polished, rounded individual. And, boy, could I cook!
"Sure, kitchens are tough, macho places. Personally, I don't rant and rave, although I run a disciplined ship. It's not my style to scream abuse at staff. So, I guess I'm still a golden retriever."
With New York's top chefs beating a path to his door, does Ferguson hope to cook for his old boss again?
"I'd love it if Gordon came to eat here. He'd be more than welcome," he replies, with a big smile. Revenge is indeed sweet.
The full article contains 1622 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
