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Yelling Chef Marc Forgione: I'm Not a Psycho Bully!
By
John Del Signore
Published May 12, 2010
Modified May 12, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published May 12, 2010
Modified May 12, 2010
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Yesterday the talented young chef Marc Forgione (son of Larry) was tossed into the center of a classic blog shitstorm after a NY Times columnist wrote about getting ejected from his restaurant after he barged into Forgione's kitchen to tell him to stop yelling at an employee. (You can read reporter Ron Lieber's side of the story here.) During a phone interview today, we gave Forgione the chance to tell his side. In short, he's not a psycho, he's not sorry, and he would like the crank calls to stop, thank you:
The picture that people are getting is that of me standing over a helpless animal screaming and kicking and [Lieber] comes into the kitchen and prevents all this from happening and saves him. That's not what was happening at all... While I was yelling I slammed my hand on a kitchen table and the rack that holds the tickets was loose and came crashing down, which probably made it more dramatic. Then he came in to tell me to keep it down because I was bothering him, not because he was trying to protect anybody. And he's turning into a martyr here. And I just want to make it clear that I am not a bully. I am not a psycho or a bully. Am I passionate? Yes.
Forgione says he did not know Lieber was a Times reporter, but insists he would have reacted the same way, and has no regrets, except a concern that the incident will overshadow the work he's doing at Forgione (which, for the record, is pretty delicious). Since the story went online, the restaurant received a number of threatening calls, as well as funny calls—one caller simply told the hostess, "Shhhh... Shhhh...Tell the chef to stop yelling." Another said, "I'd like to make reservation but if I show up will the chef fucking yell at me?"
"You will never hear me say that I don't yell at people and get a little hot headed in the kitchen," says Forgione. "I don't apologize for that, but for people to think I'm a bully and that I abuse employees is farthest thing from the truth. And this was a runner who I reprimanded, it was not some poor defenseless waitress. This is a grown man who has been in the business for 15 years and has skin thicker than anyone else. And after it happened, at the end of service, we talked it out, I offered to buy him a beer, and I told him I loved him. These things happen."
Asked if he would consider inviting Lieber back in as a goodwill gesture, Forgione said:
No way... He just decided it was okay to come into the kitchen. It has nothing to do with it being "sacred." It's just employees only, it's a kitchen. He stuck his head into doorway, waved his finger at me, and told me to keep it down because he wasn't interested. And I've never heard my kitchen so quiet! Everybody just kind of looked at each other like, 'What the hell was that and who the hell was that guy?' It was the most bizarre thing, just like six seconds of silence, like a record screeching. I took a deep breath, calmly walked to the table, and politely tried to explain why I was so upset. And he waved his hand at me and said, 'Whatever you're doing in there it's obviously not helping.' I apologized to all three of his guests and said, because of him, all three of you have to leave. I did not apologize to him and I will not apologize to him.
We read Forgione this Gothamist comment and asked him about the old maxim that the customer's always right. He replied, "Oh come on, the customer's not always right and the chef's not always right. This whole thing has gotten really blown out of proportion. And it's shocking to me how quick it happened... I feel like I'm one of the witches in the Salem witch hunt. People have just gone straight to conviction. Nobody even heard me talk. I'm a bully, brute, psycho, egotistical maniac because Ron Lieber says so! I feel like I'm in the 18th century. People are wishing harm upon me and hoping my restaurant closes. We're talking about me yelling at one of my employees—that's it." Still, to be on the safe side, we should probably toss him in the Hudson and see if he floats, right?
Tagged
crank call
kitchen nightmares
marc forgione
restaurant
ron lieber
salem witch trial
tribeca
yelling
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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