Aussie chef Curtis Stone is putting Australian food on the map by taking L.A by storm with Gwen, his new five-star 80 seat Hollywood restaurant set in a 1920’s art deco building.
In one of the country’s most anticipated openings of 2016, Curtis Stone — the chef behind the fine dining sensation, Maude, in Beverly Hills — opened Gwen restaurant on July 12th with his brother Luke Stone.
The launch of the restaurant follows the recent opening of Gwen’s world-class, European-style butcher shop.
The restaurant’s five-course degustation menu created by Curtis and his executive chef Gareth Evans, showcases a mix of individually plated and shared dishes including charcuterie from the butcher shop; classic and innovative vegetable and pasta dishes; and beautiful meats prepared with primitive fire-cooking methods over the in-house fire pit and asador.
Set in a 1920’s old Hollywood building, the elegant 80-seat restaurant pays homage to the original character of the space with one-of-a-kind furnishings.
The opening of Gwen is a decade-long dream realized for Curtis and Luke.
While both brothers had worked in butcher shops as their first jobs, it was while Curtis was working in London under famed British chef Marco Pierre White that he fell in love with the quality and craft of European butcher shops.
The restaurant is inspired by Gwen’s namesake: their maternal grandmother who lived on a farm outside of Melbourne.
It was on Gwen’s farm where the brothers were first exposed to livestock farming, which instilled in them great respect for the process of raising animals for food.
Through Curtis’ cooking career, he has maintained an appreciation for primitive cooking methods and whole animal utilization, which are now celebrated throughout the culinary program at Gwen Guests of Gwen enter the space through the butcher shop before stepping into its beautiful restaurant, which includes a grand dining room of lush banquettes and booths, a five-seat chef’s counter, and a hidden upper-level mezzanine wine room, in addition to two stately, pink marble-topped bars in both the main dining room and mezzanine.