There are two kinds of celebrity chefs. Ones that are more celebrity and ones that are more chef (I guess there can actually be three as they can be both equally). One a trip to Dallas a few years ago, a friend said he had booked Georgie for us, a Curtis Stone restaurant. For whatever reason, I thought we were in for the first kind of celebrity chef. I was wrong.
Fast forward to a recent trip to Los Angeles and my assistant recommended we try Maude, Curtis Stone’s one Michelin Star Beverly Hills restaurant. After a positive experience in Dallas, I went to Maude.
The dining room was surprisingly small. There must of only been 6 or 7 tables and an open kitchen.
The meal started with some amuse:
This was followed by a cactus dish with a crisp (I thought I had taken a pic of the menu before discarding it, but it’s no where to be found; so, please excuse the brevity of the descriptions). This was not one of my favorite dishes of the evening.
Next WAS one of my favorite dishes, caviar and corn.
Fish course
bread and butter
Abalone (after having this perfectly cooked abalone, it reinforced my prior review of Toyo’s less than stellar abalone)
…and probably my favorite dish of the evening – pasta with chicken broth, chicken skin (I think), truffle and egg yolk. The pasta was perfectly cooked, the flavors of the chicken came through beautifully as did the truffle. The egg yolk added a decadent silky richness. It was so delicious.
I don’t remember what this was.
Cheese course
At this point in the meal, its time for dessert. In what is reminiscent of Saga in NYC, the restaurant moves you to a new location for dessert. I like this as tasting menus can be long and tiring, and the change of location provides a nice refresh.
We were provided with numerous dessert courses:
Overall, the meal was incredible. Service was good. The wine pairing was on point. I would recommend this restaurant. The dishes are nicely presented, delicious, represent a wide variety of technique and ingredients and the change of location is a nice touch.