George Lang

Born in Hungary in 1924, he survived wartime persecution and later built a new life in the United States. He became best known as a restaurateur in New York, especially for reviving Café des Artistes and for his long career in hospitality.

He also wrote about food and memory, most notably in The Cuisine of Hungary and the memoir Nobody Knows the Truffles I’ve Seen. His work is remembered for mixing personal history with a deep love of cooking, restaurants, and the social world around them.

Lang died in 2011. Even in brief biographical sketches, he comes across as a larger-than-life host: someone who treated the restaurant table as a place for storytelling as much as dining.