Chef Curtis Stone Opens Gwen Restaurant and Butcher Shop

Fiona Chandra

If you have been dying to try Chef Curtis Stone’s cooking but have yet been unable to snatch a reservation at Maude, head  right over to his new restaurant, Gwen. The restaurant opening is a follow-up to the European-style butcher shop of the same name which opened in June. Housed in a 1926 building in Hollywood which was previously occupied by The Mercantile and Township, Gwen is an elegant 80-seat restaurant which showcases their world class meats prepared with traditional fire-cooking methods using the in-house fire pit and asador. Guests enter the restaurant via the butcher shop, which makes way to a grand dining room and pink marble bars. Between the dining room and the kitchen is a glass-enclosed live fire pit, where all the meat magic happens.

Gwen is in fact the culmination of a decade-long dream of Curtis Stone and his brother, Luke Stone. Both brothers had worked at butcher shops as their first jobs, and Chef Curtis Stone discovered the beauty and quality of European butcher shops while working under British Chef Marco Pierre White.

Named after the Stone brothers’ maternal grandmother, Gwen offers a five-course tasting menu which starts with small plates focusing on housemade charcuterie (from their adjacent shop, of course). Next, there is a salad followed by a pasta course. The main course, naturally, is the meat. Each menu will highlight one animal which will be prepared in several ways, accompanied be a selection of sides. Vegetarian options are also available.

Aside from the tasting menu, the bars and the outdoor patio will also offer an a la carte “Butcher Scraps” menu, which makes use of the odds and ends of the butcher shop. You’ll find dishes like smoked lamb ribs or the daily butchers’ terrines.  

The wine list, which features more than 300 selections, is the work of Ben Aviram, who has previously worked at The French Laundry, Alinea, and Maude. There are seasonal cocktails inspired by the classics. Gwen will be the only restaurant in the US to serve St. Ali coffee, a cult favorite roaster out of Melbourne, as a nod to the brothers’ Australian heritage.

Gwen opens on July 12. Reservations can be made using this link.