Greg Lang built a career managing resort kitchens. Now, the 1989 New England Culinary Institute grad is coming full circle as the new director of culinary and executive chef at the Essex Resort & Spa, which operated as a teaching campus for the now-closed culinary school until 2009.
“When I went through NECI in Montpelier, the Essex was just a discussion,” Lang, 55, said of the resort. “As a Vermont chef, a NECI grad, I feel honored to come back and lead it.”
Lang is a couple of weeks into his job at the resort, which is owned by Peter Edelmann. He’ll oversee culinary operations at Junction, a fine-dining restaurant with an open kitchen; the Tavern, a casual spot offering breakfast, lunch and dinner; and Front Desk Café, with grab-and-go treats made in the on-site bakeshop; as well as banquets, weddings and cooking classes in the resort’s two teaching kitchens.
For now, Lang said, he’s redeveloping menus, getting to know the resort’s staff and building relationships with farms in the immediate area.
“My role is to be thinking two or three steps down the road about what we’re doing next,” he said.
One area he’s already considering is the nearby Essex Experience, also owned by Edelmann. Lang plans to collaborate with the shopping center’s chefs and business owners on events and dinners, building connections between the two properties.
Lang grew up in Lyndonville and attended St. Johnsbury Academy‘s culinary program. Post-NECI, he did externships at Sam Rupert’s in Warren and the Trellis in Williamsburg, Va., then worked for five years for Hyatt Hotels in Tennessee and Rochester, N.Y. He returned to Vermont as the executive sous chef at the Equinox Golf Resort & Spa in Manchester.
More recently, Lang spent 19 years at Killington — most of them as executive chef, bringing from-scratch cooking back to the ski resort’s restaurants. During that time, he kept his eye on the Essex.
“I felt I had succeeded in what I was trying to do at Killington,” Lang said. “Here, I want to bring the culinary aspects of the resort to new heights and get back to the culture that was here when NECI was.”
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This article appears in Apr 5-11, 2023.
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