Chef Craig Strong, The Dining Room at The Langham Huntington Hotel & Spa
By Carole Dixon
For dineLA.com
Southern California native Craig Strong spent 14 good years with the Ritz Carlton chain, eight of them at their Pasadena property, where his assured and refined Cal-Mediterranean cooking won him many accolades. A year ago, a new management company, Langham, took over the property. Fans worried that Strong might jump ship. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. Instead, his tremendous talents helped The Dining Room at The Langham Huntington Hotel & Spa earn a Michelin star. And Strong is newly engaged. Good times indeed.
Was someone in your house a good cook?
My mom. And her father was a chef.
What did she make?
Simple things from scratch. She would bake our bread at home all the time. I would go to school and I had this thick homemade wheat bread and the other kids had Wonder Bread and I was almost jealous of them.
How did the change in management affect you?
I love the Ritz. But they didn’t own the property. We now are owner-operator. The vision of Langham is in alignment with my personal goals. They are truly striving for excellence.
That’s great to hear because I imagine it was a little scary there initially, venturing into the unknown.
Absolutely. I’m thinking, “Oh my gosh. I’ve been with this company so many years. Now I have to start with this new company.” More importantly than that was, where is the vision of the hotel? When they said we’re going to strive for new levels that we have never been to before, that was it for me.
What does that mean in the restaurant?
We hired a new maitre d’ and a new sommelier. We have not had a sommelier for a while. The addition of those two pieces in my restaurant has improved service tremendously. Also, we have more flexibility in purchasing and where we can source certain products.
In a hotel restaurant, you have to offer some “safe” choices, correct?
The answer to that is, I don’t have to have anything. I want to write a menu that can satisfy the whole range of people, including people who need to see something that’s steak and potato. But it is presented in a way that is very elegant and different enough that it is a refined experience. The nuts and bolts of it are comfortable to the novice diner, but we can take care of the most sophisticated diner.
What’s your version of steak and potatoes?
Maybe I’m going to use a Brandt Farm prime NY strip with a fingerling potato mousseline made with Echire butter imported from Normandy France and Brussels sprouts leaves in a sweet-and-sour shallot sauce. For me, it’s really steak and potatoes, but the presentation, the way steak is sliced and laid out and served on Bernardaud china…suddenly a very humble dish is elevated to a new level.
Any ingredients you’re really excited about these days?
I always like the Mediterranean stuff. My time in Spain was a huge influence on me: seafood inspired, olive oil in cooking, a little healthier and lighter. What I try to do is take things you already know and do a little juxtaposition with them: what can you do with two ingredients people know very well and twist them a little bit.
Can you give me an example?
We’re doing a chicken skin encrusted diver scallop. It’s really crispy on the outside. The liquid polenta is something else I love, with a poached quail egg, very thin Serrano ham and shaved truffles. The feeling is velvety smooth. It has the texture of melted cheese but I tell you it is almost fat free. When you eat it, your first bite will give you the illusion that it’s really rich like melted Brie. But it is made with very low fat liquid. You feel like you’re cheating, but you’re not.
Any new fun new kitchen tools?
My favorite new thing is a salt plate we’re doing. We’re baking it in the oven then lightly searing kampachi or hamachi tableside on it. It’s Himalayan salt, a disk about three inches thick and six inches wide.
That sounds almost gimmicky, and I think of your cooking as being decidedly un-gimmicky.
It is great to cook the fish on it even if you do it on the kitchen. But if something is done in front of people, it breaks up your dining experience and adds a little more service in front of people. Remember people are going to dinner because of a certain entertainment value, not just for dinner. Things like this are topics of conversation.
Ever eat fast food?
I like In-N-Out occasionally. And I love the taco truck on Fair Oaks. It’s there every night just north of California on the east side of street. I get the carne asada or al pastor.
And when you want something a bit more upscale?
Angelini Osteria does a great job. I have had great dinners at Ortolan. Of course Mélisse does a great job. It could be Chandra, a little Thai place that’s cheap and not fancy on Arroyo in Pasadena.
Is your fiancée into food?
She is. She eats really healthy, mostly fish. Often on a Sunday night when we’re off I’ll cook at home. One night I’ll cook and one night we’ll go out.
What do you cook at home?
Simple things. Simple but nice. [My fiancée] laughs when I make a pasta dish because I break out the machine and make the pasta. Pasta is really simple. It’s just eggs and flour.
But there’s something intimidating about it.
I would love to tell people it’s so easy. It’s that little kid in me that likes to play. All you need to do is mix flour and egg to the consistency of Play Dough and run it through the machine. It takes 20 minutes. It’s not more complicated than that.
