‘I’ve got a sweet tooth’: Curtis Stone on guilty pleasures and life in Beverly Hills
Celebrity chef Curtis Stone opens up about life in Los Angeles, his guilty pleasures … and the one dish he just can’t master.
He has made a Hollywood culinary career out of “super high-end, fancy restaurants” but Curtis Stone has simple guilty pleasures — like doughnuts.
“I’ve got a sweet tooth, though I try not to. Hot jam doughnuts, delicious,” the Los Angeles-based Australian says, with a laugh.
“I actually eat doughnuts in New York. I have a friend who is this genius chef with a two Michelin-star restaurant, and he goes you know what? I’m going to open a doughnut shop ‘cause that’s what I love.
“And holy sh*t, they’re so good.”
In his adopted home of Hollywood, Stone is a fan of Kettle Glazed (6211 Franklin Ave) for weekly “Doughnut Fridays”.
Then there are the tacos. “LA has got the best tacos that I’ve ever come across,” Melbourne-born Stone says, wearing his white chef’s outfit after another busy night at Maude, his Beverly Hills restaurant.
“(Tacos) are like a late-night thing, you can sort of go to East LA or Downtown which is not far from where I live (in the Hollywood Hills),” he adds.
“There’s lots of good, cheap eats in LA.” Another local haunt Stone swears by: a hidden sushi restaurant called Sushi Park (8539 Sunset Blvd), located “in a strip mall on the first floor on Sunset”.
DINING CHIC
On a much higher-end scale is Stone’s own restaurant, Maude (212 S Beverly Dr in Beverly Hills).
The 24-seat dining room — named after his grandmother (“this place has taken on a lot of her vibe and manners”) — serves up limited edition, specialist menus revolving around wine regions of the world.
On this particular night, the food was inspired by Burgundy, a wine region in eastern France (known as Bourgogne to locals), and included vegetables warmed with goats butter, escargot, prawn bisque, roasted foie gras, and lamb with buttered potatoes.
“LA by its nature is very casual,” Stone says.
“Personally, I wanted to get back into a kitchen and be challenged. You set a standard nice and high and try to live up to it … with a new menu.
“I didn’t do it to try and get rich, it was to sort of be creative again.”
So can Stone, one of the most in-demand chefs in Beverly Hills, ever take a night off to enjoy his own restaurant?
“I’ve never managed to,” Stone says, sipping a glass of wine as At Last by Etta James plays in the background.
“I can’t help it. I feel super self conscious that everyone is looking at me thinking, ‘why is he sitting down and not cooking my dinner?’
“I’ve had a couple of nights where we’ve not had any guests in and I’ve had a group of mates and we’ve cooked for them.”
A LOOK INSIDE MAUDE BEVERLY HILLS
Stepping into Stone’s high-end eatery kind of feels like you’re inside a family home — there are photo frames on the white tiled walls and the teal chairs look like something from the set of Mad Men.
The intimate, cosy feel and decor (some of which was sourced from Californian flea markets) was intentional, giving the space a private dinner party vibe.
“So much happens around a dinner table,” Stone says. “If you open a door and smell that someone’s been cooking for you, you’re like, ‘oooo what have they made?’
“When someone has done that and serves you, you sit down and there’s a natural appreciation for that person, which is love, right?
“Then you’re more inclined to share your stories about your day. It’s just human connection that gets lost.”
With a career that has spanned top restaurants and TV shows, Stone says there is one recipe that he still hasn’t mastered … his mum’s scones.
“My mum makes the best scones that I’ve ever eaten, and I’ve tried and tried,” Stone laughs. “I can’t keep up with her in that regard. There’s a nice part too — like, I go there (to his mum’s house) for that. It would take how special it is away if you could do it.”
Scones aside, does Stone have any dietary requirements when he’s out at dinner?
“I don’t like licorice! It has such a strong taste, I don’t get it.”
And with that, Stone is off to check on dessert — no licorice, of course — served in a hidden bar right above Maude.
For more, see Visit California.