Neil Ferguson's ousting from Gordon Ramsay at the London was announced hastily this morning, but it's quite possible that the move was weeks, if not months, in the making. In fact, there's a chance Ferguson's fate was sealed well before January 31st, when Bruni's two star review of the restaurant came down (in the same week that Adam Platt called the effort "well short of heavenly"). Much earlier, Michael Ruhlman tried to interview Ferguson for the Times, which he related in the February issue of Restaurant Hospitality. He was negged by a Ramsay spokesperson who said, "We've decided we just want to focus on Gordon." So, either the interview denial was a coincidence -- it's not unreasonable that Ramsay would want to focus on Ramsay -- or Chef Ramsay had believed for some time that his chef de cuisine wasn't cutting it.
· The Man Who Wasn't There [Restaurant Hospitality]
· Josh Emett Installed at Ramsay, Ferguson Heading Back to UK [~E~]
· BREAKING: Ramsay Dismisses Neil Ferguson [~E~]
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