Michael Langdon doesn't hesitate to create new dishes.

Huntsville chef cooks up creativity in Hell's Kitchen

  Michael Langdon likens his Hell’s Kitchen audition day to a scene from a movie.

  It starts innocuously with Huntsville Golf Club’s executive chef deciding to attend a casting call in Philadelphia. Optimistic and anxious for the opportunity, he heads east before sunrise. Suddenly, the clutch in his car fails, leaving Langdon stranded on the side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike as rain relentlessly falls.

  “It was like a test almost,” Langdon, 33, of Hanover, Pa., said. “When it happened, I pulled over and started laughing. It didn’t deter me; it just kind of gave me that drive to get there. I finally got in touch with a friend. They picked me up and got me down to Philadelphia. I thought, ‘I can’t stop now. I made it this far. I think if I get down there, something good will come out of it. I ended up getting chosen for the show, so it paid off.”

  Langdon is one of 20 contestants on Season 11 of Hell’s Kitchen, a FOX reality television series hosted by renowned chef Gordon Ramsay. In the premiere episode, the contestants saw their names in bright lights before preparing a signature dish in front of a live Las Vegas audience. The moment captivated Langdon, who offered a seared striped bass and ratatouille with saffron tomato jus.

  “It was probably one of the most amazing things,” he said. “I don’t know how many people can say that they were on a Jumbotron on the Vegas strip at Caesars Palace. I picked that dish because I knew I’d have a certain time frame to pull it off. I also picked it because of its simplicity or as I like to say, rustic, refined way. It was a simple dish but the techniques were slightly advanced. If you messed up any one of those techniques, it would affect the quality of that dish. I thought that would be something Chef Ramsay would appreciate.”

  Ramsay ultimately gave the dish a nod of approval. Langdon labeled his first impression of the polarizing culinary star as “intimidating but surreal.”

  “I think really highly of him for what he’s done for other restaurants,” Langdon said. “I really believe in his cooking style.”

  To become a cook in Hell’s Kitchen, Langdon didn’t change his style.

  “I figured my personality would come through in different ways, whether it was good or bad,” he said. “I didn’t want to put on a front just to get on the show.”

  Langdon’s felt at home in a kitchen setting since he was a teenager. His first taste of the industry came at age 15, when he gained employment at a pizza parlor.

  “I started off at the bottom of the food chain,” Langdon said. “I made sandwiches, washed all the dishes and slowly worked my way up.”

  Before arriving at Huntsville in February 2012, Langdon, a Pennsylvania School of Culinary Arts graduate, worked at Glenmaura National Golf Club for nearly three years.

  “It really kind of set me up for my job as executive chef here,” he said. “It taught me the ins and outs of the course, what to expect from tournaments, a different style of food and the wide demographic you have to meet.”

  “It was a great experience working with Mike,” John Tabone, Glenmaura National’s Executive Chef, said. “It allowed us here to expand our creativity and to do more experimenting with different things. It was like adding another head chef. He’s not only a great chef, but he’s a great person.”

  In just a year at Huntsville, Langdon met — nay exceeded — expectations from both the club’s staff and membership.

  “Of all the chefs I've worked with, Michael is definitely the most talented in a culinary sense and the most well-rounded in terms of member-relations and in all his dealings with people,” Lindsay Pross, the club’s food and beverage director, said. “He has always been able to maintain a fine balance between achieving the club's mission of member satisfaction while staying true to his vision. He can be intense at times like many chefs are, but it comes from the passion he has for his craft and that he is constantly striving for perfection.”

  “The thing that I enjoy most about Huntsville is the members’ willingness to try new things,” Langdon said. “I ultimately get to express myself through the food. I’m not really held down by a certain demographic. They’re very daring and responsive to new and innovative things. It’s a blessing.”

  Langdon feels overwhelmed by the support he’s received from friends, family and the Huntsville community since appearing on Hell’s Kitchen.

  “I think it’s exciting for the area. It’s really making a lot people proud,” he said.

  Hell’s Kitchen allowed Langdon to present his culinary talent on a national stage; He spreads it daily at home, too, alongside wife Katy, who also works in the culinary field, and sons Ayden and Maxwell.

  “We eat really well at the house,” Langdon said. “She does the majority of the cooking at home. I try to cook with Ayden as much as I can. It’s a great way for us to bond. When he sees what goes into the dish, he’s more inclined to try it. He helps me do it and he’s really proud of it.”

  Perhaps the next scene in this movie will feature Langdon working as head chef at Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill at Caesars Palace — a prize awarded to the Season 11 winner. Hell’s Kitchen airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on FOX.