Australian chef Curtis Stone has closed his first restaurant in Los Angeles after 10 years, a Michelin star and a host of best restaurant accolades.

Maude, the fine-dining, 24-seater in Beverly Hills named after his paternal grandmother and culinary mentor, was the culmination of Stone’s lifelong dream when it opened in early 2014.

Acknowledging that fine dining is a hard sell in the current economic environment, he is turning the restaurant into a pie shop.

“Degustation dining is a three-hour investment and a few hundred bucks per person. That adds up to special occasion dining,” Stone said.

Over the coming weeks, Maude will be transformed into The Pie Room by Curtis Stone.

In a nod to his Australian roots, a wide selection of meat pies, including rabbit and tarragon, beef shin, oxtail, and chicken and leek, will be staples at the new venture. After a customer request, Stone devised a chicken sausage roll that he says is “bizarrely, really good”.

His other Michelin-starred restaurant in LA, Gwen, a butcher shop and restaurant named after his maternal grandmother, will remain open.

Stone recently began questioning why he was holding on to Maude, but realised he was prepared to “close doors to open others”.

“People told me I was out of my mind when I first opened Maude, and that it will never work. But we still made it work,” he said. “It was a hard sell when I opened and there’s not a lot of these types of restaurants left.”

Nevertheless, there was a waitlist most of the time, as locals and visitors flocked to the charming eatery.

“It’s virtually impossible to make money out of a 24-seat restaurant. I wasn’t trying to get rich.”

Guests were treated to a new menu each month on which a hero ingredient – such as tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini or white truffles – was showcased. And there were four wine lists a year, inspired by four wine regions.

“It’s such a special restaurant, I never wanted it to go stale.”

Curtis Stone

Grandma’s mismatched crockery was piled with servings of mango-lemon myrtle sorbet, chocolate wattle seed ganache or a quandong peach meringue.

More recently, Maude focused on refined Southern Californian cuisine, offering the likes of abalone, black cod, quail and persimmon.

“It’s such a special restaurant, I never wanted it to go stale,” Stone said.

During the pandemic, the first iteration of The Pie Room surfaced as a pop-up within Maude’s walls, where people ordered baked goods to devour in the comfort of their home.

Among the delights he’ll be rolling out will be Anzac cookies made with coconut, pecans and verjuice-soaked golden raisins.

And while Maude’s artwork and some trinkets may stay, the fine-dining furniture will make way for a refreshed dine-in area and refrigerated display cabinets.

Stone feels sad as he imagines life without Maude. But he accepts that now is the time to “make some space for newness”.

The Pie Room by Curtis Stone, 212 South Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, California instagram.com/thepieroombycurtisstone