 Wine, Dine & Deal by Rob Howe What an absolute delight. The culinary cornerstone of the still evolving Windsor Town Green development, Langley's on the Green combines attentive, knowledgeable service and a casually sophisticated décor with inventive dishes that have been prepared by someone who knows precisely what he's doing and loves every minute of it: co-owner and chef Fred Langley. "This was our dream for years-to have our own place," says Fred, a charming Sonoma County native. Like his wife Sara, Fred is only 28, but he's had plenty of experience. He first got into the business when he was just 12, washing dishes at a restaurant where his mother worked. Later, he put in eight years at John Ash before opening Langley's a year ago. "Restaurants are all I've known," he says with a contented smile. The burgundy carpeting, dark wood tables and chairs, and deep, high-backed booths give the main dining area an upscale, yet still informal feel, which could be ideal for a business lunch or dinner. There's just something about this place that suggests that serious business could be done here-and, in fact, the Windsor town elders recently rented out the restaurant for an annual meeting. The Langleys have also hosted a number of wedding-rehearsal dinners and wine-industry meetings, seating from 10 to 30 people. In just a year, the Langleys have developed a large and loyal local following. The night we visited, virtually every seat was occupied, which is a tribute to the ambiance but even more to the food. Every dish we sampled was ideally prepared. The crab cakes on a bed of avocado and watercress, the pan-seared dayboat scallops with garlic potatoes, and the grilled pork chop with sesame slaw and scallion potatoes were all moist and bursting with flavor-though the mango vinaigrette on the crab cakes was a jarringly sweet and fruity element. The grilled artichoke and portabella ravioli sounded intriguing as did the Cajun grilled rib- eye with smoked goat cheddar potatoes. And I am not terribly adventurous when it comes to dessert, but let me just say that the baked Alaska with chocolate gelato and toasted meringue on a Kalúha brownie was magnificent-packed with potent flavors but not overwhelmingly sweet as I feared. Other pluses: Langley's offers two four-course winemaker's tasting menus every night (one is vegetarian), featuring pairings from a different vineyard every month. On Wednesday nights, they clear out a few tables and bring in a jazz combo. And at the end of the meal, every diner is given a smartly packaged pastry to take home-a clever and tasty marketing tool that reminds customers just what a special place Langley's is.
 The Langley WayTwenty seven year old chef Fred Langley knows how to aim high when it comes to imaginative, quality food March 14, 2004 By DIANE PETERSON Growing up on the Sonoma Coast as Fred Langley did -- fishing and diving for abalone, raising and slaughtering pigs with his own hands -- helps a chef develop a deep appreciation for the product. "When you have a pork chop in your hand, you don't burn it and throw it away," he said. "You are going to care for it and treat it differently." That's why the 27-year-old Langley, chefowner of Langley's on the Green restaurant in Windsor regularly takes his staff on field trips to visit the passionate purveyors who supply the restaurant with its artisan cheeses, meats and vegetables."What you're doing in the restaurant doesn't start with you," Langley said. "It starts with the people providing the food." On a rainy day last fall, Langley and his staff sorted through heirloom potatoes at Oh! Tommy Boy's farm in Petaluma, watched Liam Callahan make artisan cheese at Bellwether Farms in Valley Ford and visited Bruce Campbell's CK Lamb ranch on Llano Road in Santa Rosa."Seeing the lamb shank out there walking around, you realize that food isn't something that just comes in the back door," Langley said. Langley's on the Green serves a high-end medley of American cuisine -- everything from clam chowder and pot stickers to fettucine alfredo and prime steaks. "American is a melting pot of cultures, and we have a little bit of all those cultures," he said. The wine list, chosen by Langley in conjunction with assistants Tice Allison and Sophie Williams, concentrates on Napa and Sonoma wines, with a few European wines thrown in as well. In writing his menu, Langley is careful to keep the dishes accessible -- "I don't use any words that are French or not easy to understand." The menu also suggests wine pairings by the glass for each starter and entree, which takes the pressure off diners who may not be confident about their wine knowledge. "People come into Wine Country and feel like they have to be food and wine experts," he said. In coming up with a dish, Langley often starts with a wine, then creates a recipe around it. His Tiger Prawn Salad with Honey-Lime Vinaigrette, for example, was inspired by a sauvignon blanc from Rodney Strong. Instead of offering a winemaker's dinner once a month, Langley's on the Green offers a Winemaker Dinner every night. The dinner -- a four-course chef's tasting menu -- showcases one winery each month, with a four-course vegetarian Winemaker's Dinner available as well. "As a chef, I am proud of that," he said. "It's a challenge to make a vegetarian dish that is flavorful."Langley is also proud of the fact that the restaurant makes everything in-house, from bread and pasta to dressings and stocks, gelatos and puff pastry. "To be living this out is a dream," he said. "When we opened, we didn't even have a can opener. I had to get one for the tomato paste." When Langley's opened last May, it was the only business on the square for three weeks. A month later, a cafe opened -- Cafe Noto -- followed by the wildly popular Powell's Sweet Shop in October, with other restaurants and shops following in their wake. "Now there's more foot traffic," said Langley's wife, Sara, who serves as his floor manager. "It's snowballing." Sara, who also teaches second grade part-time, works about 65 hours a week at the restaurant. Langley himself never works fewer than 80 hours a week. Like Bellwether Farms and other labor-intensive endeavors, the restaurant is a family affair, with each member playing a vital role. Sara's parents are co-owners. Langley's mother, Katrina VonMoos, left her managerial post at Ocean Song restaurant in Gualala to serve as general manager. Because he worked his way up in the kitchen rather than going to culinary school, Langley jokes that he graduated from the school of hard knocks. In 1988, the 12-year-old Langley was already washing dishes at the Salt Point Bar & Grill -- at first during the summer, and later after school. Three years later, Rene Fueg took over the kitchen at the Salt Point Bar & Grill, and the classically trained European chef took the ambitious young dishwasher under his wing." He let me take a case of eggs and learn how to flip an egg," Langley said. "He showed me how to chop a chive, how to make mirepoix and stock and build up from a foundation." Eager to learn how to clean a fish, Langley drove down to work the docks of San Francisco all night while doing an informal internship with Costarella Seafood. When he turned 18, Langley left Salt Point to attend Santa Rosa Junior College. By his 19th birthday, however, he was back in the kitchen, working the grill at John Ash & Co. in Santa Rosa. After four years, John Ash & Co.'s Executive Chef Jeffrey Madura promoted him to sous chef. "Even though I was real young, Jeffrey had faith in me," Langley said. "I learned so much from him -- not just how to be a chef, but how to be a businessman and manager, a teacher and leader at the same time." While he was at John Ash, Langley started to do a few catering jobs on the side -- seven-course meals for parties of 10 -- and his philosophy for how he'd like to run his own restaurant began to take shape. "Everybody would be in the kitchen with their glass of wine, and that's when I knew I wanted my kitchen to be wide open," he said. At Langley's on the Green, the kitchen is located just beyond a small eating bar, where customers can watch the entire kitchen and waitstaff in action. It's an intense environment, where the occasional mishap -- whether it's a dropped plate or a heated argument -- is heard and seen by all." We're under a microscope, but it keeps us energetic and motivated in what we're doing," Langley said. "Our guests can see what we're doing, and it reminds me and the staff that we're serving real people." Langley's business philosophy is to take the high road at all times, whether it means using mixed baby greens from Tierra Vegetables or crystal wine glasses from Spiegelau. "We don't manage the bottom line," he said. "We manage the top line and let the bottom take care of itself." Meanwhile, Langley keeps inspired by giving cooking demonstrations, mentoring students at El Molino High and finding new ways to reach out to his staff, his customers and his food purveyors. "Our restaurant is about relationships," he said. Langley's on the Green, 610 McClelland Drive in Windsor, is open Monday through Saturday for lunch, with a midday menu available from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Dinner is served every night. Langley's also offers live jazz every Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m. Phone: 837-7984 for reservations. |
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610 McClelland Dr. Windsor, California 95492, United States Copyright -2008- |
Hours of Operation are Sunday - Thursday 5:30-8:30pm, Friday & Saturday til 9:30pm. Happy Hour every night from 5-6pm and Friday and Saturday nights from 8:30-9:30 pm. |