Keith Eats Everything at $$$ Steak House

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In this episode of Eat The Menu, Keith eats everything at Curtis Stone’s Hollywood Steakhouse, Gwen.

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APPEARANCES:
Curtis Stone @curtisstone
Gwen Restaurant @gwenla
Andrew Merritt @gigantomachy
Marissa Rivera @themarissarivera
Jared Popkin @jaredpopkin

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– In 2016 in Hollywood, California,
Chef Curtis Stone and
his brother, Luke Stone,
opened an old world European style
butcher shop/elegant steakhouse
inspired by their
maternal grandmother Gwen,
who lived on a farm in Melbourne.
It was there that they were first exposed
to livestock farming,
which instilled in them a great respect
for the process of
raising animals for food.
Their fire based cooking
techniques, in-house aged meats,
cross restaurant collaboration,
and beautiful art deco interior
earned Gwen its first
Michelin star in 2023.
And today I’m eating everything from Gwen.
(dramatic music)
Let’s eat the menu. Gwen.
Big News!
I am going to eat all the most delicious things
In. Your. City.
We’re going on the road,
we’re gonna do an Eat The Menu live show in six different cities.
Zach’s coming along,
we got special guests,
we’re gonna do some games, sing some songs, etc.
And some of you guys even get the chance to come up on stage
and eat with me.
[Zach] We may even throw some chicken
at you.
Don’t throw it back.
If we’re coming to your city, let us know in the comments
what we should be eating there.
And if you’d like us to come to your city,
where do you live? Let us know.
We look forward to seeing you
[whispered] in person.
And as always, "Eat the
Menu" is brought to you
by Keith’s Not Too Hot Sauces.
They aren’t ranked by any
French tire companies,
but they are delicious, I promise.
– Gwen’s a European style butcher shop
where we cure all of our own meat.
We make all of the charcuterie in house
from rare breed pigs,
and then we dry age all of our
beef in our big meat locker.
People come in all day long for our meats,
and it’s also the
heartbeat of the restaurant
that sort of sits in the same building.
You enter through the butcher
shop into the restaurant.
So of course we’re a
meat centric restaurant.
We cook everything over live fire.
And it has this sort
of primitive elegance,
I like to describe it as.
It’s still a refined restaurant,
but very, very simple in
the way we approach food.
– Before we have appetizers,
we probably have to have some wine,
and we actually have a sommelier
who has been on Try Guys before.
It’s Andrew.
He was in the cheesemonger video.
Andrew, please, what should I be drinking?
– Hi, nice to see you again.
– [Keith] Good to see you.
– I’ve got two Chardonnays for you.
This is the Rare Wine
Company’s Clos du Mesnil.
This is 100% Chardonnay
Blanc de Blanc champagne.
And then just up the street
Beaujolais and Burgundy,
and above that Chablis.
So 100% Chardonnay as well.
Both of these grown on limestone,
but obviously one’s
sparkling, one’s still.
Enjoy.
– Wow. Thank you.
There were so many funny words.
I guess we should start
with the sparkling.
Let’s have a taste.
Wow, that’s good.
That’s way better than the
champagne I can afford.
Let’s have this one.
I can at least tell they’re
both a similar kind of wine.
I think I like the sparkling one more
only because it tastes more unique to me.
I haven’t had a champagne
that is that good honestly.
Let’s get in.
We have a lot of
appetizers to get through,
but let’s start right here.
Bluefin tuna with the little flowers,
with the little nuts, the
little pickled jalapeno.
I like that it’s got little flowers on it
’cause I imagine bluefin tuna
don’t even know what flowers are.
The bluefin tuna.
Mm.
Yeah, that was good. (sighs)
Salty, obviously so delicate,
very deliciously tuna-y.
The dill is singing.
Little flowers are
getting to know the fish.
It’s briny, it’s bright.
The flavor dances. It swims even.
It’s honestly so flavorful, I
don’t know how to describe it.
It makes you want to smile.
It’s not like a smile like
you’re proud of your son.
It’s like a smile like
you see somebody cute.
The steak tartare.
It’s really beautiful.
Look, it’s like a little forest.
The steak tartare.
That was like the best
roast beef sandwich flavor.
It was like when you get
that really good medium
rare roast beef sandwich,
you bite into it, a little
bit of a mustard tang.
But wow.
When you’re in the grocery store
and you wish you could just eat
the ground beef right there.
You can’t.
This is if you did and you were
rewarded for that behavior.
What kind of smile is it?
A mischievous one?
Okay, so this is a seaweed waffle.
We’ve got smoked trout roe
with a little bit of creme
fraiche and some chives.
Wow, the roe’s so beautiful.
Let’s have it.
(Keith applauds)
Remarkable.
Caviar, roe, it’s just
delicious fish salt.
And with the creme fraiche,
which gives a little bit of heavy fat,
and then this like sort
of bitter seaweed waffle,
it is just everything all in one bite.
It’s got a great chew.
And just it is, it’s amazing.
I haven’t tasted anything
like this before.
So everything here is
just sort of rotating,
depending on what is the freshest.
This is a market vegetable salad.
It kind of changes all the time.
So if you come eat here, you’re like,
"Hey, I want that salad Keith
had," you might not have it.
So I’m gonna have the best salad
they made for me right now.
We got some apples, we got some almonds,
some various butter
lettuces and other lettuces.
I can’t even talk, I’m
so excited. (chuckles)
The salad.
Wow.
Bright, tangy, fresh, crunchy, nutty.
A little like me.
This is a smile like this.
‘Cause it’s tart.
And then it’s got a little bit of fennel.
You just keep digging in the salad,
you discover more treasures.
This must be what it’s
like to be a little pirate.
How do pirates find so much treasure?
And then they bury it.
What are they? Squirrels?
Oysters.
Yeah, they have a little Fresno chili oil,
hot sauce situation that
comes in a little tincture.
Oysters are one of those things
that the less you think
about it, the better.
They just kind of grow
sticking on some rocks or wood
or whatever they can stick on,
and they just live their life like that.
They don’t go anywhere.
No sightseeing.
Let’s try one.
That hot sauce is good.
Not too hot.
Really a briny little guy.
A lot of great little chili pepper flavor.
I’m gonna go three drops that time.
Oh yeah, I’m doing three drops.
That was delicious.
Very warm, very flavorful.
Great little chili flavor.
Which I love all oysters.
Briny or not, I’ll suck ’em down.
You don’t have to chew
them, but you should.
I was thinking the other day,
can you swallow a whole pickle
spear without chewing it
because it’s so slick?
I’ll probably never try
until I’m really old.
That’s really good.
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Now back to me.
So you guys have your own butcher shop
that just is a butcher shop
for everyone out there,
but then you’re also using all that stuff
to make a charcuterie platter here.
And I know people order
charcuterie platters as well.
– So this is the bresaola,
which is the wagyu.
This is duck, a cured duck.
We use liberty ducks, but
we smoke this as well.
Now, I like charcuterie not
tightly rolled or pressed,
so I kind of just lay
it out as ever it falls.
This is a culatello.
Culatello is the type
of muscle that you use.
It’s an Italian style of
prosciutto or charcuterie.
Then we also make salamis.
So this dark one here, we
make a leek ash in the Josper,
which gives it a really
sort of interesting flavor.
– It’s gorgeous.
– It’s beautiful, isn’t it?
– So pretty.
– This is a Calabrese.
That’s the backstrap.
And finocchiona, so lots of fennel.
– [Keith] Fennel and pork are
just really great friends.
– [Curtis] Match made in heaven.
– [Keith] Yeah.
– So we serve pickles.
So this is some pickled
onion, some pickled chilies,
some pomegranates, little mustard seeds.
I’ve got a little mustard.
We make this in house.
It’s made with beer.
– The pork and fennel sausage.
Yeah, the fennel is just like so strong.
It’s so good.
– Yeah.
This is the backstrap ham.
– The backstrap ham.
– This is milky but buttery in flavor.
– It almost has like a
little crunch to it too.
Wow.
That fat’s so good.
Don’t take this offensively.
It’s almost like a really
thick fruit rollup.
– Right.
It’s kind of got a
leatheriness to it. Yeah.
This butter’s crazy as well.
We bring it in from Normandy.
It’s called Beurre de Baratte.
It sounds ridiculous
that you go to the effort
to like fly butter in from France,
but I tell you what, it’s
like no other butter.
Australia makes wonderful butters too.
Nothing compares to this.
– The bread.
Yeah, I remember I came here
for my birthday a few years ago
and sat at the bar where we got the bread.
I immediately ordered like
two more servings of bread.
It was just so kind of crazy delicious.
– That’s the Calabrese.
– Calabrese.
– [Curtis] So Calabrian chili.
– Oh, it’s gonna be spicy.
– [Curtis] Yeah.
Not crazy though.
– Especially with the bread
that tastes like pizza.
Wow. That’s really good.
– Yeah, it’s got a nice kick, doesn’t it?
– I mean, it’s not not spicy.
It’s spicier than I was expecting
when you said, ah, it
doesn’t have that much spice.
No, it’s chili.
Okay, I gotta try this.
– You saved the best for last.
– This one.
– Leek ash and porcini.
It’s got that sort of
umami of the mushrooms
and the caramelization from the leeks.
– It looks like a stained glass window.
Whoa.
I have to have it again.
I don’t even know what this is.
I’ve never tasted anything like this.
For one second, I’ll be like,
"Oh, it’s all mushrooms."
Then I’m like, "Oh no,
it’s the onion flavor."
It’s like, "Oh no, it’s the pork."
And it keeps sort of walking
through a revolving door
through all those flavors.
And then the duck and this.
– Yep.
– This is the duck that smoked,
so it’s more like a speck.
– So the only one we smoke is the duck.
– I thought that one was smoked for sure.
This one is definitely smoked.
It’s great. It’s so fatty.
Duck.
Duck’s just a fatty little bird.
– [Curtis] A little bit
of that fat render out.
– Yeah, I mean it’s like duck bacon.
– [Curtis] Yeah.
– It’s great.
– I’ve gotta be honest,
it’s everyone’s favorite.
Everyone just loves that.
– It’s so good.
It’s just completely indulgent.
This is the same grass fed wagyu.
– Wagyu bresaola.
So this is beef.
It’s the only cut of beef we do.
Everything else is pork.
– I mean, you can see right through it.
– Yeah.
– It’s like that "Simpsons" gag
where he rubs a burger on the wall
to make sure it’s fatty
enough for him to gain weight,
and then a bird flies into it.
It’s fatty, but it’s also just so thin.
But it really is like paper thin.
– [Curtis] Yeah.
We have 100 year old slicer.
The Laurio.
It’s good, right?
– Mm-hmm.
That’s really good.
Okay, Uno, what are we gonna have?
– The Cherry on Top.
It’s a whiskey sour.
It has Four Roses bourbon,
some fresh egg white like so,
some house made cherry syrup, fresh lemon.
Give it a good shake.
– When you do that,
does your Apple watch think
you’re really like crushing it?
– You know, I’ve never checked.
It probably does.
– It probably thinks
you’re like really hustling
every time you make a drink.
– It’s like, "Wow."
And then a little Luxardo cherry.
The best cherries in the world, I swear.
– [Keith] They are.
– I love to do this little gradient.
Malic acid cherry powder.
– [Keith] The Cherry on Top.
Yeah.
Oh, that’s so smooth.
Wow. It’s just delicious.
Sometimes whiskey sours
are very, very sour
or they’re very, very alcoholic.
This is like, it’s sweet
and tart rather than sour.
It’s really, like it looks like suede.
Kind of drinks like suede.
Now it’s time for the pastas and rice.
And joining me is everyone’s
favorite Jared Popkin.
– Oh yeah, papa’s home, baby.
Bitch is back.
We getting fancy tonight.
– [Keith] We’re fancy.
– We’re not home. We got a sitter.
– You know-
– ‘Cause we’re on a date.
– A few years ago,
Jared and I had one of our
first little dates together
and we came here.
– That’s true. That’s actually very true.
It’s one of our first dinner times.
– [Keith] I know.
(Jared gasps)
Before we eat,
we should probably get some
wine on the table as well.
– You know me too well, babe.
– [Keith] I know.
– [Andrew] So we’re going Pinot Noir.
This is 100% Pinot Noir
from Michel Gay et Fils,
which means "and sons."
– Okay.
– Michel Gay and Sons.
This is Chorey-les-Beaune.
Chorey-les-Beaune is an
appellation in Burgundy
in the southern part of the Cote d’Or.
A little bit more concentrated and rich,
but super sexy and soft
and velvety on the texture.
But like kind of a robust, earthy,
kind of pomegranate and
red fruit character.
But with great acidity.
Cuts through the fat of richer dishes.
Enjoy your pasta.
– Thank you.
Was he describing you there for a second?
– I think he might’ve been.
– Sort of like velvety, sexy.
– [Jared] Sexy.
– You know.
– [Jared] Earthy.
– Yeah.
– [Jared] Grounded.
– I know.
– Rich.
– [Keith] Felt like he was
sort of describing Jared.
– I think he was describing exactly me.
And then he totally forgot
to talk about the wine.
– I know.
But what’s the wine like?
It’s so good, and the glass is so big.
– I wanna put this in a water fountain
and then put it in my house.
You know when you watch "Game
of Thrones," you’re like,
"He’s having wine at 9:00 AM?"
I’d have this wine at 9:00 AM.
This is (beep) good.
– Yeah.
I’ve seen you drink wine at 9:00 AM.
(everyone laughs)
This is the Cavatelli.
This has beet, goat cheese, and pistachio.
Look at these little beets.
Look at ’em.
– [Jared] This is gorgeous.
– It’s beautiful.
The Cavatelli.
– Here we go. Cavatelli.
Were you expecting it to be warm?
– No.
(Jared laughs)
– That was amazing.
– [Keith] Wow.
– It’s mostly that great pistachio.
– Yeah. The pasta is perfect.
– This is amazing.
That is perfectly cooked.
– It’s sweet.
It’s nutty, so it’s got a little crunch.
There’s also these little cubed beets
that provide that like
sort of sweet beet-ness.
– Bweetness.
– Bweetness.
– [Jared] This is one of the
best pistachio flavored things
you could probably get on the planet.
– [Keith] Mm-hmm.
– You know, at certain
places like at Olive Garden,
they always keep bringing out salad?
I want this to be like that salad.
– The bottomless.
– Yeah. Bottomless this.
– Bottomless.
– I want bottomless beets.
Bottomless beets.
Band name. Called it.
– [Keith] One of my
favorite pastas is gnocchi
because it doesn’t even
feel like pasta to me.
– [Jared] True.
– It’s little potato dumpling pasta
that’s so flavorful, so chewy.
I’m so excited for this one.
It looks absolutely gorgeous.
– A bacon bolognese?
– Wow. Can you do that?
– [Jared] Are you allowed?
– Is that legal?
The gnocchi.
It is like if you took breakfast-
– [Jared] Yeah.
– And turned it into an
Italian pasta dinner.
– Yeah.
– It’s potatoes and bacon, but
it’s been totally reimagined.
– Chicken potpie.
– It does have like a stew or potpie vibe.
– [Jared] It’s just so American.
– [Keith] Yes.
– [Jared] It’s so American.
– You know what it is?
They say it sticks to your bones.
Is that what they say?
Is that the phrase?
It sticks to your bones.
– This is so Keith
Habersberger taste profile.
– Manly. Manly pasta.
– It’s a daddy dish.
– It’s a daddy pasta
– Daddy dish.
I need the editors. Daddy dish.
– It does taste like daddy.
Okay, let’s move on.
The risotto with Dungeness
crab, celery root, brown butter.
– [Jared] Oh my god. This looks so fun.
It looks like it’s like artistic seaweed.
– It’s not seaweed at all, I don’t think,
but I get the vibe.
– The texture, and the wrap.
It looks like I’m gonna get lost
in this little sauce over here.
– The risotto.
– [Jared] The risotto.
Good god.
– Crab.
Wow. It’s rich.
– Yeah, it’s big.
– This is like…
– Like cottage cheese rich.
– It’s like gold car rich.
How is it even that rich?
How are you so rich you have a gold car?
It’s impractical.
– And it’s a gold limo.
The flavor is sharp.
– Mm-hmm.
– The flavor will cut you like a knife.
– I can’t tell if it’s like a celery,
like a tiny little sprig.
But it has a little bit of crunch,
a little bit of freshness.
It does cut through the
intensity of the risotto.
– [Jared] It’s like a more neutral-
– [Keith] Yeah.
– [Jared] Like a hydration taste.
– It’s a hydration taste.
– [Jared] Yeah.
– It’s like when you
buy a bag of pistachios
that have been de-shelled.
You don’t have to work for it anymore.
It’s like all the flavor
and tons of delicious
crab flavor and meat.
No work.
– I’m buzzing right now.
– I feel good.
– This food makes me feel like a rockstar.
– Yeah.
This food interrupts your date.
You can’t talk about each other.
You can only talk about how good it is.
You’d be like, "What
were you doing today?"
It’s like, "Wow. So good.
"What did you say?"
What was your favorite of the three?
– [Jared] I gotta give
the credit to the beets.
This was shocking.
– It’s crazy.
This one. This is the operatic soloist.
– [Jared] Yes.
– [Keith] Big, showy.
– [Jared] Yes.
– You know, they don’t steal the show
’cause they already were the show.
You bought the ticket for this.
– Yeah, absolutely.
– This over here.
This guy. The entire bass section.
– [Jared] I think it’s a whole band.
– [Keith] Providing the foundation.
– Yeah.
– This. The triangle.
– [Jared] Wow. Really?
– You would forget about it-
– [Jared] But it’s keeping tempo.
– The perfect place.
No. Absolutely would not keep tempo.
– It doesn’t?
– Nope.
But that one little triangle ding
was a thing you realized
the whole ensemble needed.
I think I do like the daddy dish the most.
– God, that daddy dish.
– Which we should actually call
by its name is the gnocchi.
It was really good.
But they’re all delicious.
– [Jared] Phenomenal.
– What’s going on with you?
What’s new?
– My show is out.
You guys can check out "Read the Room."
Marissa’s on it.
She’s in one of the episodes.
– [Marissa] Yeah. Episode four.
– Episode four.
No, but "Read the Room" is out.
I worked really hard on
it for almost a year.
I was the director, writer, producer.
I’m in it sometimes.
I’m stoked on it.
I hope you guys check it out and love it.
And if you don’t love it, make a comment.
I hope you watch it.
– Well, thanks, Jared.
We’ll see you next time.
– Love having you.
– Always good to have you.
– Love having you?
– Always good to have you.
Love having you?
Let’s move on to what’s next.
– So this is a salad, our
sort of take on a salad.
It’s apples and persimmon.
And we take Granny Smiths, and
we roast ’em in the Josper,
and then we turn it
into this sort of silky-
– That’s apples?
– [Curtis] That’s apple. Yeah.
– I thought that was mustard. (laughs)
I was like, "Okay, it’s
like an apple mustard salad.
"Sounds good."
– So this is just the Granny Smith
roasted in the Josper sauce.
It’s got a real sort of smokiness.
And then we turn it into a puree,
so it’s kinda like the
most delicious baby food
you could ever see.
And then we take persimmon.
It’s a fruit.
It grows natively here in California.
It has a really lovely sweetness to it.
– Persimmon.
Is "darkly sweet" a phrase?
You know, it’s like very
like a muted sweetness.
It doesn’t have any brightness
is what I’m trying to say.
It doesn’t have like a
sour or acidity to it
that something like a
strawberry would have
that’s also sweet.
– This is a honey crisp apple.
It’s a sweeter…
A little cheek of that.
– A very, very like simple thing.
You’re just chunking up fruit.
Putting it on some pureed fruit.
– This is a coffee rub.
– [Keith] I was really
not expecting coffee.
– I know.
You know what?
Chef Luis, who works
here, our executive chef,
he was like, "I don’t know.
"I love eating fruit and
coffee in the morning,
"and I was thinking
about that for a dish."
And I was like, "That’s
an odd combination."
But then we just started playing with it,
and it actually works really, really nice.
This is a lemon verbina.
– I thought it was mint.
– It looks like it.
– [Keith] Yeah.
– Yeah.
This is a vinegar that
we make with persimmons.
And then pecans, we just
grate straight over the top.
We don’t roast them.
– I’ve never seen anyone grate any nut.
The persimmons and apples.
Wow. That’s so much flavor.
Wow. What’s crunchy in there?
The coffee?
– The coffee. Yeah.
So that’s the coffee beans.
We bring in coffee beans from Melbourne
’cause I’m a total coffee guy.
– Uh-huh. Well, you’re from Australia.
That’s how everyone is there.
– It’s true. We’re so weird about-
– Oh, I went.
You can taste the coffee,
but then you’re sort of hit
with the vinegar like right out.
And then you’re left
with the dark sweetness,
as I call that, of the persimmons.
But the nuttiness is like really light.
The waxy pecans.
I mean, that green apple puree
gives you so much like
acidity and tartness
that really wakes you up.
And then you’re also hit
with that bitter coffee
at the same time.
– Yeah.
– Which both of those things,
you’re used to those flavors
sort of waking you up.
So really if you are arriving
to dinner, not ready to eat,
this is gonna smack you in the face.
It’s almost as tart as like wine.
– Yeah.
– Probably one of the most
flavor packed dishes I’ve had,
just in terms of like hitting you
on both sides of the spectrum of flavor.
Great textures.
So nice.
– I would love to make
you our house gimlet.
Gin or vodka based, it’s up to you.
– Gin.
– Perfect.
And we do a house made
cucumber dill syrup,
which I basically just
juice whole cucumbers
with the skin on, dill as well,
blend it together with some sugar,
and then I add a little
citric acid into that,
which really kind of amps up the vibrancy
of the cucumber and dill.
There’s a really cool rim
where we dehydrate dill,
grind it up in a mortar and pestle
with some black peppercorns,
some pink peppercorn,
and coriander, and sea salt.
And here’s the gimlet syrup here.
So it becomes sort of-
– That’s a dense juice for sure.
– A dank green.
– Yeah, a dank green.
(Uno laughs)
– Cheers. This is our house gimlet.
– Yeah, that’s beautiful.
That is crazy.
I love the little pink peppercorn
’cause the pink really pops out
against the rest of it being green.
It makes it feel like Christmasy
or like a holiday drink,
although it also still is very summery.
It feels like sitting on your lawn.
You’re even looking at your lawn, right?
Like, grass clippings.
Just chilling. Having some cucumber.
Having a gimlet.
The gimlet.
– [Uno] It’s like almost being at the spa.
– It’s exactly like if
spas served alcohol.
– Take the ribbon out and
just lay it across your eyes.
– Yeah.
It does make everyone here
who’s out for a nice dinner together
have to lick the outside
of a glass way further
on the outside than you normally would,
which I think is great.
Now it’s time for the pork,
seafood, and some sides.
And joining me is Marissa!
– [Marissa] Yay!
– How you doing?
– Hello, internet.
I’m doing great.
I’m so excited.
I’ve never been here before,
and I’ve heard so many great things.
– Before we get into the food,
we have to have some wine.
– [Andrew] Continuing with versatility
as being an important part,
particularly when you have all
these dishes in front of you.
– [Marissa] Gotta be verse.
– [Andrew] There is an element of spice
here in front of you as
the pecans and cashews
that are on top of the pork chop there
are braised but then tossed
with a buzz button sauce,
which is kind of like Sichuan peppercorns
and numbing and spicy character to it.
– [Marissa] Ooh.
– So it’s not super orange,
but this is a skin contact orange wine.
This is Onward.
It comes from the Suisun Valley,
east of San Francisco,
south of Napa Valley.
It is a skin contact Malvasia
fermented on the skins for about a week.
So it’s got a little bit of
color, a little bit of tannin,
and it is tiny bit off dry.
So it has a round plushness to it.
I think it smells like peach rings.
– It does have a peach ring vibe, yeah.
Well, cheers.
– Cheers. Thank you.
– Cheers.
– Cheers.
That’s nice.
– Yeah, it’s good.
I love skin contact wine.
– I do too.
And at least for me,
I’ve noticed in the past
like three-ish years,
it’s gotten a lot more popular,
and every time I see one, I’m like,
"All right, let’s try it,"
’cause it’s always good.
I’ve never not liked one.
– Okay, we have a lot of
stuff to get into here.
– [Marissa] Yes.
– [Keith] Let’s start with scallops.
You sear ’em, you put ’em on stuff.
These are on some grits.
They also have some
pork floss around them.
Grits, I’ve really only
come around to enjoy
in the last several years,
and I think someone should have just said,
"Hey, what if corn was mashed potatoes?"
And I would’ve been like, "Oh, okay."
– Yeah.
– The scallop.
There’s simply no other word but damn.
(Marissa laughs)
Such a good flavor.
And that pork floss adds just a little bit
of like porkiness to it,
which I always think that
scallops almost have.
Of the seafoods,
they have the closest to
like a fried pork flavor.
– The grits are the smoothest
grits I’ve ever had.
– [Keith] Gosh!
– They just melt in your mouth.
Oh yeah, the wine.
The pairing! The pairing!
– This is very close
to a I’ll-have-what-she’s-having
sort of fun.
I only wanna speak in onomatopoeia.
Wham.
Bang.
Zow.
Okay, so this is the cream cabbage.
It’s the same cabbage
we had in the kitchen.
They take that charred layer out,
and then they braise it in
cream and butter and spices,
top it with some fried onions.
– Ooh.
– The cabbage.
– [Marissa] Cabbage.
Mm.
So smokey.
– Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
– But still light.
– It’s like if a southern
barbecue was somehow,
you grab that flavor to
put in their coleslaw.
– Ooh.
– Because it’s a crunchy
coleslaw with a very-
– And the oniony flavors in there too.
– Yeah. Roast onion, smoked.
And all that smoke comes from the fact
that they literally take the cabbage,
they put it into the fire.
They just let it burn.
It is so-
– But of course it doesn’t taste burnt.
– Mm-mm. No.
‘Cause they take all
that outside layer off.
– Never would I think to be like,
"Oh, when you go to Gwen,
you have to try the cabbage."
But you have to try the cabbage,
– The cabbage slaps.
Peter Cottontail was always
going through the garden
trying to steal carrots
and cabbage, right?
– Yep.
– Peter Cottontail would go nuts for this.
He would let that farmer kill him twice
just to have a taste of this.
Let’s have some potaters.
These are duck fat fried
potatoes with a tarragon vinegar.
I’m just gonna do a
little drop right on it.
The potatoes.
– [Marissa] The potatoes.
– Mm-hmm. Potatoes.
– Nice and pillowy on the inside.
– Yeah.
– Crispy on the outside.
It doesn’t taste like duck.
It just tastes more
complex than a french fry.
– The vinegar like brightens it up.
– [Marissa] Yeah. That’s delicious.
– They’re great potatoes.
Let’s go into this pork boy.
The pork chop,
and it’s got a buzz button
sort of a roasted cashew
and Romano beans and pears.
Look at this slice of pork.
– And it’s slightly pink in
the middle, which is good.
– Which is good. You can do that.
– You can do that. It’s fine.
It’s actually preferable.
– It’s 2024.
It’s not the late ’90s
when we’re all afraid of undercooked meat.
– Your pork chop does not have to be gray.
– The pork chop with
the buzz button cashews.
Whoa.
Sweet. Homey.
You know, comforting.
It’s like something your
grandma made for you,
and also something your grandma
isn’t incapable of making.
(Marissa laughs)
– It is grandma. It is beyond grandma.
– I don’t think I’ve had a
cashew this texture before.
It’s soft.
Almost like a boiled peanut.
– I was just about to say that.
But way better. (laughs)
– [Keith] Way better.
Way better than boiled peanuts.
– Way, way, way better.
– [Keith] Never was a fan.
Really delicious.
That’s a special little pork chop.
– [Marissa] Yeah.
– If I hadn’t already wasted
my one damn of the episode,
this one might get it.
Okay, this is the butternut squash.
This is cooked in the Josper,
which is the like wood fired stove.
– [Marissa] It smells like Thanksgiving.
– Yeah. Kind of a mess
of delicious browns.
The butternut squash.
Oh, that’s dessert.
Ooh. Mm.
There’s like a little-
– [Marissa] A little zing.
– Zing in there.
A little spice.
Like a little like chili something.
It almost has a Thai
profile with that coconut
and the little bit of
spice on the back end.
The flavor, it’s just like-
– It does hit you in
the back of the tongue.
– There’s a secret heat in there.
It’s so nice.
It’s more of like my mouth is warm.
Not spicy, but warm.
It’s time to go fishing.
This is the coral trout.
The fish.
– [Marissa] Fish.
– I’m so impressed
with how much flavor they
manage to get into everything.
– Yeah. Whoa.
I just tried the Brussel.
Whoa.
– [Keith] What’s going on with ’em?
– Whoa.
Mm.
– Whoa.
(Marissa laughs)
Yeah, whoa.
– Whoa.
– Mm. Oh.
Whoa.
The texture of these Brussels sprouts
is like fried rice paper.
Unbelievably light while still
being so packed with flavor.
It’s very easy going.
It’s very relaxed.
Sort of a relaxed fish dish.
– It’s like a,
♪ Just keep swimming, just keep swimming ♪
– Yeah. Well, but then the fish died.
(Marissa laughs)
Because, well, we’re eating it, right?
Spaetzle.
Trumpet mushrooms,
black trumpet mushrooms,
and smoked gouda.
Spaetzle.
These are rich.
This is umami and u-daddy.
(Marissa laughs)
All of it.
And-
– [Marissa] And ooh baby.
– U-son. U-daughter.
The whole family is there.
It’s the gouda.
The gouda is such a strong flavor
with the earthy mushrooms.
– [Marissa] Yep.
– Like, it’s delicious, but
it’s like, wow, that’s so much.
– And more of that
smokiness coming through.
Smokiness is definitely
an overall flavor profile.
– We cook over fire.
That’s what we do.
That’s what we do.
– That’s what we do.
I think my favorite was the scallops.
– Yeah, I like the scallops too.
So what’s new with you?
You’ve been busy.
– Yeah, I’ve been busy.
Commercials.
You know, strike’s over.
I’m fortunate enough to be working still
and eating delicious food
with delicious friends,
so thank you.
– I guess I am sort of a delicious friend.
(Marissa laughs)
I guess so. I guess you’re right.
– [Marissa] You’re my
most delicious of friends.
– Thanks.
Well, thanks so much for joining us.
– Thank you for having me.
This was so excellent.
I can’t wait to be back.
– Now it’s time to go to the kitchen.
– So our octopus is made al
pastor in the same flavor
that you would get a
normal al pastor taco.
So what we do is we marinate the octopus,
and we slowly cook it in sous vide,
so we cook it in a water bath.
It’s really slow.
We let it cool,
and then we brush it again
with our al pastor flavors,
and we roast it in the Josper,
which is a charcoal burning oven.
When we take it out of
the charcoal burning oven,
we serve it with a little
bit more of that al pastor.
We brush it again, we slice it,
and then we serve it with
some fermented pineapple,
a little chili oil.
And it’s a very simple dish,
but it’s really quite delicious.
We also garnish it with cilantro flowers.
The flowers are actually a
lot more pungent in flavor
than the leaves, the cilantro leaves.
So we use the flowers
because they’re pretty,
but they also pack a real punch.
– Oh wow.
– So it’s like octopus al pastor.
– Yeah.
– And that’s why we ferment the pineapple
and serve the pineapple as well.
– Delicious. Cheers.
That’s al pastor octopus.
Wow. That’s awesome.
– I have the same attitude
with ribs as I do with octopus.
It’s gotta be tender enough.
– [Keith] Still has a chew though.
– It’s gotta have a little chew.
– Yeah.
– We’re gonna do the Dirty Duck martini.
We work with the butcher shop,
and they give us this
beautiful smoked duck speck.
So we basically, we peel
the fat from the muscle,
and we take the fat, and
we render it in the back.
So we cook it for a little bit.
Gather all of that melted fat goodness.
And then we pour it into
Tito’s and freeze it overnight.
The whole fat washing process
for that 24 hours, it freezes,
so all the fat will rise to the top,
and then we strain it through cheesecloth
until it’s totally like smooth
and particle free of all the fat.
And then we put it back
into our Tito’s bottle,
mark it with a little tape,
so we know that it’s the smoked
duck and not regular Tito’s.
Three ounces of that.
A touch of olive juice,
just a little kiss.
And then we shake it.
We shake it nice and cold.
So the fat washing ultimately
just gives it this beautiful texture,
which you’re about to witness.
And then we stuff Castelvetrano olives
with the smoked duck breast,
so everything gets used.
– The Dirty Duck martini.
Cheers.
– [Uno] Cheers.
– The smoke and the fattiness,
it like cuts that intensity
that a vodka would have,
and it tastes so pleasant.
There’s no bite.
It’s just really pleasant.
What if I didn’t drink alcohol,
is there anything for me then?
– I would love to make
you the Lemongrass Float.
– [Keith] Lemongrass Float.
– It has coconut, lemongrass
syrup that I make here,
and a little fresh lime
juice and soda water.
So I’ll whip it a little.
Kettle ice.
Get it chilled.
And put that in the bottom.
And then pour the creamy mixture in,
and it starts to kind of foam up.
– It looks almost like marshmallow.
– It does.
And so it’s a lemongrass float, right?
So why not have like a
little fresh lime zest
for the aromatics alongside lemongrass?
– What a statement.
– Statement.
– Right across the middle.
Typically if you’re not drinking alcohol,
you might feel left out.
This actually is the most, you
know, fancy drink visually,
I feel like we’ve had.
The Lemongrass Float.
Yeah.
Wow. That’s just delicious.
Gosh, it tastes like something I’d get
from an ice cream truck.
It tastes like bright and happy
and like a lemon lime sherbet
that’s obviously more
complicated than a sherbet,
but it has like that vibe.
Wow.
Well thank you so much, Uno.
This is delicious.
– [Uno] Absolutely. My pleasure.
– I gotta go back to eating.
– Yes.
– Thank you.
And now it’s time for the steaks.
And joining me to eat the steaks
is the person who crafts all
the steak, Chef Curtis Stone.
Welcome to the "Eat the Menu" table stage.
– [Curtis] How are you, bud?
– I’m great. How you doing?
– Very well.
So this is the flat iron steak first.
You can also call this
the oyster blade steak.
Two sort of cushions of meat.
And in between is some sinew and some fat.
So in Australia we sell that
as a whole piece called the oyster blade.
Here we separate those two,
remove all that sinew and fat,
so it’s very lean, very rich
in flavor, and quite tender.
– Wow. And then what’s
this little guy right here?
– This is just a little red wine jus
that we serve with the steaks.
– [Keith] Very nice.
– So what we do is we allow our guests
to choose their weapons.
We’ve got all of these-
– [Keith] Wow.
– [Curtis] Different knives.
And you can go ahead and
choose whichever one you like.
– There’s so many different styles.
– Different styles.
Let me tell you a little bit about them.
So these one, two, three,
four here are all bloodroot.
So they’re made by a couple
of brothers in Georgia.
They use all recycled materials.
So they literally wander around
and find recycled material,
whether it be for the
steel that makes the blade
or the wood.
They do all sorts of different handles.
So they’re really beautiful.
One of my favorite.
It’s really about what
kind of handle you like.
Do you want a wooden knife?
We have antlers.
We’ve got all sorts of
different things you can choose.
Whatever you like.
– This one’s calling
to me for some reason.
– [Curtis] Oh yeah.
Nice choice.
– This one.
This one. I don’t know why.
Maybe it’s this big white stripe,
but something about it made me want it.
– Oh, that’s a locally
crafted knife actually.
That one’s made in Burbank.
– I work in Burbank.
– It’s called the bump knife.
And it’s actually made with a resin,
similar resin that they
would use on an aircraft.
There’s burlap covered in that as well.
Beautifully sharp knife.
And you’re supporting your local artisans.
– So this is something you do
for every guest who’s having steak,
you bring around the knives,
everyone gets to choose
which one they want,
they hear a little cute story about them?
– [Curtis] Yep.
– That’s very fun.
I did see a crazy knife
down there in the kitchen.
I didn’t talk about it.
It was like a little like
switchblade pocket knife
that was just sort of sitting on the end.
That’s the one.
– That’s the one.
– What’s going on with this?
– [Curtis] I’ve always got a
fun little knife in my pocket.
– [Keith] That’s a fun little knife.
– Just to open boxes and
all the boring stuff.
– [Keith] Of course.
– You know, protect myself.
We are in Hollywood.
– Right. We are in Hollywood.
– Just joking.
– So let’s have one of these.
– [Curtis] Sure.
– This looks delicious.
Just Gwen in general,
what led to this restaurant in particular?
– [Curtis] This is named
after my nan, my granny.
Gwen, obviously her name.
She lived in the countryside in Australia.
And she grew up very simply.
She had animals.
My mom would tell stories
about there being a lamb
hanging from the oak tree.
And then her dad, my grandfather,
just going out and getting
some chops out of it
and coming in and being like,
"Lamb chops for dinner."
– How long can a lamb live on a tree?
– You’d be surprised.
If it’s cool enough,
and, you know, in the old
days they’d throw a hessian,
a wet hessian sack over it
and that would keep any bugs away.
– [Keith] Wow.
– And you’d keep it there
for a couple of weeks.
– I did not expect to learn this.
– Yeah.
– Yeah.
Mm.
I gotta do this little sauce though.
– Please.
This is one of my favorite
steaks because it’s, you know,
there’s a different steak
for every palate, right?
Some are super tender.
Of course the tenderness
usually means less flavor,
and the toughness usually
means more flavor development.
– [Keith] Right. Yeah.
– [Curtis] And this one’s
right in the middle for me.
– [Keith] Yeah, it’s a little tougher
than the ones we’ve had before.
– [Curtis] Yeah.
– But still quite easy to
eat and very meaty in flavor.
– [Curtis] It is.
Yeah. Very rich.
– Oh, that’s great.
I love the chew on this too.
It’s very bouncy.
– [Curtis] It is, yeah.
– You know?
It’s like your teeth
on a little trampoline.
(Curtis laughs)
– And you also pick up
that little bit of smoke
that we cook it on, which I think is nice.
You know what we need?
A glass of red wine.
– [Keith] We do.
– Now I’m pouring you
gentlemen 2021 Four Stones.
The appellation on this
wine is actually Malibu,
and I’ll let Chef Curtis tell
you a little bit more about it
as this is a little bit close
to home for him as well.
– It is.
Well, the Four Stones, me,
my wife, and my two kids.
And this is a little vineyard
that we got our hands on just recently.
But the vines are 25 years old.
This is a Bordeaux blend?
– This is the Bordeaux blend.
We make three wines
from the vineyard site.
A half Cabernet, half Syrah,
a little homage to Chef
Curtis’s homeland in Australia
where they do a lot of blends like that.
We make a straight Cabernet
from 100% estate fruit.
And then we make this
beautiful world Bordeaux blend
involving all five grape
varieties that come from Bordeaux.
– Wow.
– So Cabernet based, but
with a little bit of Merlot,
Cabernet Franc, Malbec,
and Petit Verdot as well.
– Thank you very much.
– Thanks, mate.
– Cheers.
– It’s young. Cheers.
But it’s-
– But so are we, Curtis.
– But so are we.
Not as young as I’d like.
– That’s great.
So you make bottles of
liquid with your name on it?
– We do.
– Gosh, I know what that’s like.
And it’s vinegar, which is
not so different from wine.
I make Not Too Hot Sauces,
but I don’t think they
have quite the esteem
and beauty of the bottles
that you guys have.
– I’m a hot sauce man.
– These are Not Too Hot Sauces.
Both of these are pretty good on steak.
We already got a great pairing here,
but this one’s sort of
like a smoky mustard.
I think it’s really, really good on steak.
It’s probably my go-to.
But this one that has
a lot of warming spices
is also very good.
– Let’s try ’em.
When did you start making them?
– I started making them in 2019, I think.
– That’s awesome.
– Yeah, I work with a bakery in Vermont.
Everything is locally
sourced from farms out there.
Basically the woman, Claire,
she used to just trade baked goods
with some of the farmers
there to make peppers.
She started making her own hot sauces.
Got very good at it.
When I was trying to make a hot
sauce, I partnered with her,
and she’s really good with
creating different flavors,
and we made three
different ones over time.
– Oh, that’s very good.
They’re both delicious.
– Yeah, this one has like
cinnamon and cardamom.
A lot of warming spices. Really nice.
– [Curtis] Congrats, buddy.
– I love ’em too.
– [Curtis] Fabulous.
– Fabulous.
– [Curtis] Where can you buy ’em?
– Well, you can buy ’em in
the link in the description.
– [Curtis] The wagyu steak,
we literally season with salt
and pepper on both sides,
and we put it onto a red
hot fire burning grill.
We burn almond wood,
and then we rake those
coals underneath the grill,
and then we cook that steak
for just a couple of minutes
on either side, and then
let it rest really well.
It’s grass fed wagyu, so it
has a real minerality to it.
But of course it is full blood wagyu,
so it’s still very, very
rich, fatty, and delicious.
To accompany the steak we
serve some spring onions
that we’ve slowly cooked and
then finished in the Josper,
which is that charcoal burning oven,
and cabbage that we cook in the embers.
And then we remove it, portion it,
and then we flash it back
in the grill as well,
so you get sort of
caramelization on all sides.
So this is Blackmore’s Wagyu.
It comes out of Victoria, Australia,
my state where I grew up.
The interesting thing
about what David does
is he runs the animals
on grass for a long time.
So they get this real minerality.
It’s my favorite wagyu in the world.
– [Keith] Some people cut this off.
I love that bite of fat.
– [Curtis] Oh yeah.
– I think that’s
the best part.
– [Curtis] I’m with ya.
Steak cheers.
– Cheers.
Mm.
The texture’s incredible.
– It’s sick, right?
– It almost tastes like bacon
because of the rendered
fat and the salt presence.
But like, wow, that’s outta control.
It is so perfectly tender
without being too soft.
Yeah, and it’s not as
melt away as, you know,
the super wagyu, the A5 Japanese wagyu
that’s like almost at times too-
– Too fatty. Yeah.
– Fatty.
It’s exactly what you want
steak to taste like every time.
It’s exactly what you want.
– We try and play with-
– The spring onions are crazy good.
Holy cow!
– And the cabbage too.
A lot of people look at the
cabbage and don’t even touch it,
but the truth is the cabbage is fabulous.
We cook the whole thing
as a whole cabbage
straight in the charcoal,
and it gets totally burnt on the outside,
and then we kind of
remove those outer leaves.
And what you’re left with
inside is this beautiful, smoky,
perfectly cooked cabbage, which
I think is really fabulous.
– Yeah, you can see
this little translucent
sort of inner layer right here.
All right, the cabbage.
That’s a great texture for cabbage.
– [Curtis] Yeah.
– It’s almost like a softened carrot.
It has a decent amount of
like chew still and crunch.
– Yeah.
– Which is…
Normally if cabbage is crunchy,
it means it’s not cooked enough at all.
– Exactly.
– This is like just tremendous.
– The dry age ribeye, we age for 80 days.
This is from Creekstone, and
it’s a beautiful rich ribeye.
We cook that over the fire.
We season it with salt and pepper first,
and we leave it on the grill
for just a couple of
minutes on either side,
and then we let it rest
for five to 10 minutes,
then we give it another
two minutes on either side,
and we continue that process.
So it’s cook, rest, cook, rest.
And that way we end up getting
a beautiful pink even cook
all the way through that steak.
Because of its 80 day dry aging,
it gets a real funkiness,
a real richness in flavor.
The tool I use when I’m
cooking on the grill
is the blow poke,
and it allows me to rake the
coals from the fire basket
or the Brasero, as they fall through.
And then I pull those coals over.
If I want to get a little bit more heat,
I’ve got the opportunity to
blow right through that rod
and sort of just add a little
bit of oxygen to that fire,
which will just flare up
those coals a little bit
to give me a bit of extra heat.
– So this is the big boy.
– It is.
Creekstone is the ranch.
It is 80 day dry aged,
which is a long time.
I mean, normally it’s seven to 14 days.
You know, I always sort of
describe it like you start
with this much flavor and
then you dehydrate it, right?
You end up with this much meat,
but you’ve still got this much flavor,
but now in this much meat,
so it just makes it richer.
– Wow.
All right, let’s get into it.
– Bon appetit.
– Cheers.
I can taste that different
flavor, I guess the funk.
It almost tastes nutty.
– Yeah.
Yeah, you can sort of almost describe it
as an aged cheese too, right?
Like a blue cheese kind of.
– It has a similar funk.
It’s not like that extreme.
– [Curtis] Right.
– I also love the little
rib cap part to this.
– Oh, that’s the best bit.
– I mean, it’s so delicious.
So much extra fat.
– Yeah, that’s the mouthful.
But this, that intercostal,
this sort of piece here,
it’s rich, it’s delicious.
It’s actually what they, when
you have Korean barbecue-
– Oh, and they cut it off the short rib
when they like literally
cut it at your table-
– That’s what it is.
– Scraping it forever.
– Yeah. So you see the
fat that runs through it.
– Yeah. Wow.
– And the flavor of that is, I think,
you know, whoever picks
up the bone in my book is-
– I’m always picking up the bone.
I feel like you shouldn’t,
I’ve done it here,
and, you know, Becky has been like,
"You can’t start eating off the bone."
I’m like, "But it’s a big old bone."
– Yeah.
We love it.
– You’re eating a big old
piece of red meat off a bone.
I think in that instance you’re
allowed to eat off the bone.
– You sure are.
– Well, I’m gonna eat it.
Wow.
It is really like a
big hunk of fat running
right through the center of that.
– And because it’s so close to the bone,
it gets all the sweetness
during that cooking process,
so you sort of get this
lovely, rich, beefy flavor.
– And a little bit extra crunch
from it being right here on
the seam and hitting that fire.
Wow.
Wow.
– The hanger steak.
You know, a real chew to it,
but wow is it full flavor.
And, you know, you only
get one hanger steak
per side of beef, so you
won’t often see these.
And quite often the butchers
keep them for themself.
(Curtis laughs)
– It hangs off of some part, right?
Is that where the name comes from?
– It kind of hangs just on
the inside of that rib cage.
So it’s sort of, it is just
a little piece of meat.
And that’s why it’s an interesting cut
because it sort of just
sort of hangs in there.
You gotta be a little
careful when you take it out.
But yeah, it is full of flavor.
I really like the steak.
– Let’s get into it.
The hanger steak.
Oh yeah.
That’s really tender actually.
– It’s not bad, is it?
And you can kind of see it’s
got a looser fiber to it.
That muscle is a much looser fiber.
So, you know, you can kind
of almost just pull it apart.
– [Keith] Really can.
– But it still does have
a little chew to it,
which I kinda like.
– Okay, so what’s this guy?
– This is the New York Strip.
In Australia, we call it the sirloin
because there was a king at some point
that liked it so much he
literally knighted it.
It’s called the strip loin
in commercial butchery.
Lots of different names for it.
In Australia, we also
call it the porterhouse.
Here that means something different.
– Yeah, we have a totally-
– It does get quite confusing.
But the New York Strip is one
of the world’s favorite cuts.
– Yeah.
– It’s pretty lean
with that little bit of fat
that runs along the sides.
– [Keith] It’s got a lot of flavor.
– Yeah.
– But I love a strip.
The New York Strip.
Mm.
– You can see why it’s a
favorite of people, right?
It’s nice and tender.
Absolutely delicious.
– [Keith] Now with that red wine glaze,
it’s really, it’s got it all.
– [Curtis] Yeah.
– A little bit acidic, a little sweet,
very easy to chew, lots of flavor.
The little fat cap on the side is nice
for those who want that
bite of rendered fat,
who want that extra like
kind of crunchy, soft,
almost melts away fat.
Mm.
– Dude, I love my job.
I get outta bed, and I genuinely
love coming to the kitchen.
But I think you’ve got me beat.
– Yeah, I get to eat.
– You’re at work right now.
– Yeah, I know.
I don’t know how we made this work.
– [Curtis] Cheers to that.
– I don’t know how we did it.
I mean, I had to slog
through a lot of fast food
to get here.
What is your favorite
cut of all the steaks?
– Mm.
I think if I had to choose
one of these three steaks,
it would be the flat iron.
I think because of where it
sits, it has a real richness.
I also, my default is the ribeye.
I absolutely love the spinalis
and the center and that little-
– You get a lot of
different steak experiences
in one ribeye, especially with the bone in
’cause you have the stuff
close to the bone, the cap,
and then that little like
sort of rendered fat tail
that some people will cut off.
Like, don’t cut that off.
I get it.
It’s like three inches of
pure fat, but it’s so good.
(Curtis laughs)
I think outta these three,
this is my favorite,
only because I do love the
rendered fat on a steak.
– [Curtis] Right.
– Just very few opportunities
where you can eat fat
and the fat is delicious
and you can chew it,
you can totally enjoy it.
Most meats, the fat just doesn’t do that.
– Right.
When we decided to open
Gwen, to be honest,
I was sort of searching LA
for a great butcher shop.
And I always thought to myself,
"If only there was a
wonderful butcher shop here."
So that was kind of the
beginning of the conversation.
And then I thought if you
had a beautiful restaurant
off the butcher shop
and the butcher shop was
sort of the central focus
of it all, that could be pretty cool
’cause the butcher/chef
combination is pretty wonderful.
– So after this, I’m gonna
have some of the pies.
I know meat pies, ham pies
are very big in Australia.
You know, what was the inciting incident
to put that on the menu?
– You know, in the pandemic,
we just didn’t know what to do.
We couldn’t open our restaurants.
We wanted to keep our staff employed.
So we turned Maude into a pie shop.
We called it the pie
room, and we just baked
’cause we sort of felt like
the world needs a hug or a pie.
You know, they’re kind
of one in the same thing.
So we started baking pies.
And then of course when
the pandemic was over
and we’re allowed to reopen Maude, we did,
and then our customers would all swing by
and be like, "Where are the pies?
"We want the pies back."
So it sort of motivated us to say,
"All right, well let’s do it."
And we found a little bakery,
and so now we’re making the pies,
and we sell them here in
the butcher shop at Gwen,
and soon to be in Topanga
in a little shop over there.
So yeah, so we’re doing delicious
sort of Aussie/British style meat pies.
There’s beef, there’s
chicken, there’s rabbit.
We do all sorts of delicious fillings.
And then we also do sweet stuff as well.
– Cool. I’m looking forward to it.
I haven’t had any of those from you guys.
I’ve had some of the other
smatterings, but that’s exciting.
– Okay, I’m gonna go
down there and get busy.
– Great. Thanks so much for joining me.
– Nice eating steak with you.
Thanks for having me.
– Now it’s time for some pies.
But I think if we’re gonna have some pies,
we need a little beer as well.
– This is a little Bitte ein Bit.
Probably the most popular
German beer of all.
This is the Bitburger pilsner.
– Wow. Look at it go.
– [Andrew] Made a mess there for you.
– And that’s what beer is.
Beer is messy.
It’s at the football games.
It’s at the rugby games.
It’s the Australian football games.
– So for those who don’t
know, pilsner is a hoppy lager
and 100% the best thing
to have with a pie.
– I love a pilsner.
– [Andrew] Enjoy.
– Because they’re very crushable.
It is true, but I really like them
’cause they’re just a
very clean beer flavor.
When you’re having something
fatty, it’s just delicious.
It’s not complicated.
It’s easy.
At this point in my life, I
don’t want a complicated beer.
I want a beer that I can drink
and think about something else.
Let’s start with this guy, this pie.
This is the beef cheek pie.
That shredded. Wow.
Beef cheek, first of all, is
so unbelievably delicious.
It’s very tender, it’s very fatty.
It’s incredible.
The beef cheek pie.
It is like pot roast.
It’s like short rib.
Definitely of all the things I’ve had,
this feels the most at home, winter,
make you feel better after a bad day pie.
So fatty, so indulgent, so rich.
It’s so densely packed with
this incredibly tender beef.
Cheers to the pie.
Yeah, that’s good.
Look at this little guy, huh?
Clean cut.
This is a pie to bring home to mom.
Look at the haircut on this thing.
You know, he did get some bleached tips.
You know, no sideburns,
very clean around the way.
You know, he’s a military pie.
The chicken and leek pie.
I just love the sesame crust on top.
It is absolutely gorgeous.
These pies are unbelievably stacked.
Look at that.
This is a meal that
like it’s so beautiful,
and then as soon as you start
eating it, you’ve ruined it.
You just ruined it.
I’ve ruined it.
The chicken and leek pie.
If I’m being honest,
this has the exact same
vibe of the previous pie.
Really comforting, heavy,
luxurious, comforting.
But now we’re just dealing
with chicken and leeks.
Just all these layers of puff pastry.
So delicate.
The top ones are crispy.
The ones that are closer to the meat,
they’re a little bit damp
with just the flavor of the chicken.
Just the steam has really turned this
into such a beautiful little bird.
The vegetable pie.
Oh, oh.
Just love, oh yeah,
this popped right open.
Look at that.
This food is begging you to eat it.
This is delicious.
It has a great sweet curry
flavor, a little bit of heat.
The vegetarians are not missing out here.
But this has that same
comforting, warm vibe.
I think that’s just the
vibe of the pies in general.
But it’s cozy.
I picture a little cottage
with a little chimney
with little rings of
smoke coming out of it
and a little old lady who’s
just come home from the market.
She turns and she sees you and she says,
"Oh, would you like to come in?"
And then you’re like, "Sure."
She’s like, "I’ve just made
some curry vegetable pies."
And then you go in and you eat one.
And then she gets you.
No, that doesn’t happen.
Or does it?
All right, this is a lamb curry
pie with potatoes atop it.
Can you hear it?
(pie squishes)
Oh.
Yeah. Nice.
All right, let’s get into this thing.
The lamb pie.
Mm.
It’s great to be able to have the lamb
next to like the beef
cheek and the chicken,
so I can really taste
the uniqueness of lamb.
It does have a totally different flavor.
It’s like a more matured flavor.
It’s a little, I wouldn’t say gamey,
but it has like a wildness about it.
This is the kind of thing,
you know, the old
Campbell’s soup commercials?
Football players needed something hardy.
Football players need this.
This is what they needed,
not Campbell’s soup.
What are you?
Look at these two little fairy shoes.
Sausage rolls.
They look like little elf shoes.
You imagine an elf sneaking
through your house?
And you cut open his
feet and they’re sausage.
I love sausage rolls.
I’ve rarely been able to encounter them.
The few places I’ve had
them were Australia,
and New Orleans does sausage rolls,
and they do them quite well.
It’s puff pastry around sausage.
Come on.
And they make their own sausage here.
Come on.
The sausage roll.
Whoa!
Holy cow.
I feel like I just got
hit with a tidal wave.
The texture on the pie crust on this,
because I think it’s been
able to roll over itself more,
really crunchy.
Really the most (growls)
you get out of all the pies.
And then you have this really
spiced sausage underneath.
(Keith applauds)
Now it’s time for some
cookies and the sweet pie.
As American as apple pie.
This is a beautiful little apple pie.
The caramelization on
top, this little lattice,
it’s sort of like almost
caramelized on top.
The apple pie.
Mm.
That’s (beep) delicious.
The caramel, the
sweetness, the brightness.
Great texture.
It’s very yummy.
That pie’s crazy.
Cookies!
Chocolate chunk.
The chocolate chunk cookie.
That’s a big little piece of chocolate
right in the middle of cookie, huh?
Yeah, this is just perfect too.
It’s soft, but it has a good bite.
I imagine as a child you
would like save this bite
for the end.
You’ve nibbled it all the
way around and then finally.
Mm.
There’s a gluten-free chocolate
and peanut butter chip cookie.
Who needs gluten when I got these?
I would never know this
was a different cookie.
There’s like sugar kind of frosted
on each individual peanut butter chip.
And if I was like really high,
I could imagine a little skier
going down these little slopes,
and a little fairy flying above them.
It’s really beautiful when
you look at it like this.
Okay, I saved this one
for last on purpose.
It’s got coconut, golden raisins.
It’s got some pecans I see in here.
It smells almost like a
kettle corn to be honest.
It has that kind of
salty sweet smell to it.
Yeah, it smells like a movie theater.
The Anzac.
These are inspired by Australian
and New Zealand armies.
It’s kind of what they would eat
with what they had to make cookies.
They also didn’t spoil when
they traveled overseas.
And honestly, it’s really good.
It is a thicker chew to a cookie.
And honestly it kind of
tastes like a movie theater.
It tastes like candy and
salty popcorn and butter,
and like, you know, you have
Mounds at movie theaters,
like the coconut candies.
It’s like all of those things all at once.
The texture is a little chewier and denser
than these cookies.
And the golden raisins of course.
You know I love raisins.
A little burst of sweetness.
And with that, we’ve eaten
everything here at Gwen,
so it is time for the
best and the least best.
It’s hard to say.
It was really all quite good.
I guess if I had to choose
something to be the least best,
maybe the duck fat fried potatoes
only because they were simple.
I liked that they were simple.
I thought they were delicious.
But so many things I had today
were kind of like out of control unique,
like the cabbage, like
the Brussels sprouts.
But the best, lots of bests,
I’m gonna say that that
octopus, I loved it.
What it felt like to me
was a very elevated dish
of something very, very classic
and abundant in Los Angeles,
but a new way to experience
something I already love.
I loved that.
It was so amazing.
And the little cilantro
flower buds blew my mind
with how much flavor they had.
Oh, I loved the scallops.
It’s absolutely perfect.
Oh, I loved the meat pies.
I might’ve liked the
vegetarian one the most.
And the apple pie, we just had it,
so, you know, it’s coming to my memory
because it was recent.
Recency bias, but it was incredible.
Pork chop was amazing.
Oh, the daddy gnocchi. Just tremendous.
I’m so happy that I actually did this
because I have been to Gwen before,
and the two times I’ve come after,
I’ve gotten a lot of the same things
because I loved them so much.
Today I got to try stuff I
probably never would choose,
and it might’ve been some of
the favorite stuff that I had.
I loved that apple salad
with the persimmons.
Totally blew my mind.
It was delicious.
I had a great time, and I
can’t wait to have this two
and three star Michelin restaurants,
but honestly, give this another star.
Maybe I should start
giving Keith stars out.
Six stars.
Gwen has six Habersberger stars.
The most you can have is four.
They’ve got six.
Thanks so much to Jared.
Thanks so much to Marissa.
Thanks so much to Chef Curtis Stone.
And thanks so much to Gwen for having us.
It was a beautiful day.
We had so much.
Oh, thanks so much to our sommelier.
Thanks so much to our crew,
all the team that helped make this happen.
And of course, thanks to me.
This has been "Eat the Menu."
Make sure you get yourself
some Not Too Hot Sauces.
And if you’re in LA, get
yourself a table at Gwen.
They do have bar seating,
so if you don’t have time to
get a reservation, pop in.
See what you can do.
If nothing else, drop by the butcher shop
and get yourself a world
class piece of meat to cook
in your Residence Inn
because those have kitchens
because I assume you’re traveling.
This has been "Eat the Menu."
We’ll see you next time.
Bye.
(upbeat music)
But that is everything here at Gwen–
No?
Of course!