The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1984 (11. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1984-05-01 / 5. szám

PROFILES IN FOCUS- by - Paul Pulitzer

George Lang, the "Hottentot of Hospitality

GEORGE LANG:

The Hungarian Guru of the

Restaurant World

“Varietas Delectat” or “Pleasure in Variety” is his credo. And it seems that George Lang, from the day he was born in 1924 at Szekesfehervar, has lived up to it to the hilt. For he has been a professional violinist, tailor, waiter, chef, busboy, maitre d’hotel, caterer, restaurant manager, food and travel writer, television food commentator, photographer, author, book salesman, page turner, calligrapher, tableware designer, antique watch collector, and master cook in his own kitchen. But today, he is the world’s foremost creator of elegant restaurants and the owner of one of the most celebrated dining establishments in New York City — the Cafe des Artistes. Moreover, variety being, indeed, the spice in his life, he somehow found enough time to author the definitive work on the culinary art of Hungary, “The Cuisine of Hungary”, and learned entries on “Restaurants” and “Gastronomy” in the Encyclopedia Britannica. To date, he has also been involved, as a Consultant, in more than 700 food service-related projects around the world. To be sure, George Lang has come a long way since 1944, when some Russian soldiers forced him at gunpoint to play the violin for them until they broke down in tears and let him go. Recalling this harrowing experience in his life, George Lang said: “The Russians started crying. One minute they wanted to kill me, the next they were kissing me.”

After that 8-hour-long experience, George Lang wasted no time getting out of Hungary!

LANG ARRIVES IN THE PROMISED LAND

George Lang arrived in America in 1948 and immediately began living up to his credo. He became a salesman for the Encyclopedia Britannica, turned pages for artists performing at Carnegie Hall, and then got a job playing the fiddle for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Not Page 12

being a “Heifetz”, however, he decided to try something else. “1 went to bed one night as a musician,” he explained, “and woke up a cook.” Four years later, he had already worked for dozens of restaurants and night clubs here and abroad. Then, the world famous Claudius Charles Philippe of the Waldorf Astoria took him on and, under the tutelage of this great taskmaster, Lang learned the nuts and bolts of food merchandising and showmanship. “I also learned how to sell what were blintzes on Wednesday morning as Crepes Suzette on Saturday night,” he said.

HE SKYROCKETS TO FAME AND FORTUNE

After a stint as the Assistant Banquet Manager of the Waldorf Astoria, George Lang became affiliated with Restaurant Associates, with whom he worked to open the Tower Suite and to manage the Four Seasons. Three years later, he founded his own restaurant consulting firm — the George Lang Corporation — and, since then, there has certainly been a great deal of variety in his life to spice it.

While more recently joining forces with a group of ABC Television executives and actors in financing a million dollar restaurant to be called the “ABC”, Lang has about 16 other projects in the works, including a prototype restaurant in Kuwait for an Arab-owned food chain and 12 restaurants and 24 fastfood places for the Beverly Center in Los Angeles.

When he first arrived in New York aboard the “Marine Fletcher” on July 15, 1946, he was so thin, Lang says, that he “looked like nothing but a pair of eyes” and, when he discovered the Horn & Hardart’s Automat, he recalls, “I discovered that if I bought bread, there was free ketchup, salt, and pepper. I dined mixing oil and vinegar with them.” Commanding a $3,000-a-day consultant’s fee plus expenses today, he lives in ä luxurious duplex featuring an L- shaped bath for two and a tub which sprouts miniature plastic toys, cooks up a storm for his guests, and entertains them with his vintage 1709 Stradivarius violin.

In summing up his life, George Lang has this to say: “If there is a key to my existence, it is that I think life should be pleasure instead of looking for darkness.”

There’s a lot to be said for his philosophy!

Eighth Hungarian Tribe