Inside Gwen – Curtis Stone’s New Hollywood Hotspot

Gwen has opened its doors in Hollywood. One of Los Angeles’s and maybe the country’s most anticipated restaurant openings of 2016, Gwen serves a five course meat-centric menu, seasonal craft cocktails, and, if you can snag a sought after table, excellent people watching.

Gwen is a passion project of celebrity chef Curtis Stone and his brother Luke. Named after their grandmother Gwen, Gwen will set you back a minimum $190 for two, but the restaurant promises to offer more than a simple dining experience, but a visceral one, as guests are surrounded by raw meat visibly hanging in glass-enclosed dry age rooms and whole animals roasting over an open fire pit. It’s a sight to see, to be sure! Let’s take a look at some of the drinks and dishes inside.

Curtis and Luke both began their culinary careers in butcher shops, so upon entry you’re greeted by a functioning European-style butcher shop.

Curtis and his skilled team have years of experience in Europe and the US making charcuterie, so the butcher Shop acts as the heart of the restaurant, driving the dinners in the dining room while also catering the home cook. Everything is impressively prepared daily in house.

While I’m not much of a meat eater, I know most of us have fond memories of ourselves as children waiting for our mothers and our fathers as they spoke to the local butcher about how to prepare a specific cut of meat, so Gwen’s butcher shop offers a nostalgic, friendly, and old fashioned feeling of back when everyone knew the town’s butcher.

There’s also sandwiches!

The dining room itself features a sleek and modern design.

The cocktail list has eight drinks and each is done to perfection. The Cup Styled – berries, pear brandy, vodka, lemon, & spiked wine – and the Negroni Reflection – cucumber genepi, genever & dry wine – were every bit as seasonal as the menu in the dining room. Curtis and Luke have promised their cocktails will only be made with the best of what California farmers have to offer. Applying the same “whole animal” philosophy to the drinks, no part of the fruit or vegetable will go unutilized.

There are currently only eleven wines on the fascinating wine list, and no bottle costs over $50. Bottles will change seasonally and when the main dining room’s menu changes. Most bottles are from California vineyards but there’s, of course, more than one option of champagne.

But what you’ve really come here for are the dishes. First up is this glorious item from the “Butcher Scraps” menu – a more casual and affordable option only available in the patio section and only available for walk-ins only.

The grilled Porterhouse steak served family-style, with creamed corn. Curtis’s recipe for this dish can be viewed here.

Many of the courses are veggie friendly, like this salad, made with burnt cucumber pickles, summer squash, hearts of palm, blossoms, and buttermilk.

Orecchiette with pancetta, pickled fresno chili, tomatoes, and pecorino shaved table-side.

A spread of “first bites” at Gwen: charcuterie from their butcher shop paired with snacks prepared by the chefs including spicy house nduja, leek ash and porcini salami, sardines topped with champagne gelee, slightly charred focaccia, and much more.

And, of course, be sure to leave room for dessert: crème fraîche panna cotta, apricot sorbet, lemon verbena meringue, macerated cherries, and elderflower gelée.

See you at Gwen’s! All photos courtesy of Gwen. Follow Gwen on Instagram.

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