After the closure of the Michelin starred space, The Pie Room, the pop-up all-Australian pastries, French-inspired pies, and sandwiches that from February to November 2021-during the pandemic - had allowed Stone to stay in touch with its most loyal customers, will return to the same spaces.
Cover photo: Andrea D'Agosto
The News
For a star that dies there is always one that begins (or returns) to shine: such is the case with Maude and The Pie Room, two among the establishments that bear the name of Curtis Stone. Closing its doors for good, in fact, is Maude, the one-Michelin-starred restaurant of the renowned Australian chef. The spaces that have housed the restaurant since 2014 - where Stone offered, first a seasonal tasting menu focused on a single different ingredient each month, then a cuisine attentive to detail, consistency, seasonality, and wine pairing-will not, however, remain unused. At 212 S. Beverly Drive in Los Angeles, The Pie Room, the pop-up all-Australian pastries, French-inspired savory pies and sandwiches, which from February to November 2021-during the pandemic-had allowed Stone to stay in touch with its most loyal customers and secure staff employment, will, thus, shine again.
"We are very excited to give The Pie Room a permanent home. During the pandemic, The Pie Room was the way to stay in touch with our guests and the neighborhood; now it's an honor to offer it a permanent home where we can continue to share our love of sweet and savory yeast products while expanding the menu,” the chef told Robb Report, commenting on the shop's opening last Nov. 19. The decision to give The Pie Room the responsibility and the honor of continuing to write the story of Maude's shabby-chic environment was dictated by Stone's desire to focus on the bakery offerings and Gwen's, his other one-Michelin-starred restaurant in Hollywood.
In fact, the concept of Maude required the use of a lot of time and energy that went into the chef's other projects. “Maude was a restaurant where the menu changed every month. The pattern was this: you would launch the new menu, within the first week you would adjust every single detail, so by the second week everyone knew what to do and everything was really under control, but if you got to the third without working on the next month's menu it was a disaster. It required an incredible amount of energy, concentration, commitment, and creativity, “ the chef says about the starred menu.
In this new venture that sees The Room Pie donning a new guise, Stone is not alone; joining him, in fact, are Serkan Çetinarslan (formerly Maude, Spago) who oversees the kitchen; Mitzi Reyes (formerly Dominique Ansel, Somni) who manages the baked goods with baker Luis Flores; and Jolie Klein, the hospitality veteran with three decades of experience, who runs the restaurant. A separate workshop produces the croissants, pain au chocolat, muffins, cookies, breads, rolls, and sweet and savory pies that can be enjoyed on-site or taken away. In the evenings, then, The Pie Room transforms into a wine bar where, in addition to the daily specials and yeast products, you can enjoy charcuterie boards from Gwen-the Stone's restaurant-macelleria and farmhouse cheeses. “With every crumb crafted to perfection, The Pie Room brings Australia's rich tradition of 'meat pies' (and more!) to the hungry residents of Los Angeles," assures Chef Stone.
