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Lauded Beverly Hills restaurant Maude is coming back to life, more than a year after closing as a result of the ongoing global pandemic. Under the stewardship of celebrity chef Curtis Stone, the space had turned for the past nine months into a pop-up space for savory and sweet pies, but now reps for the restaurant tell Eater that the original fine-dining Maude will return soon.
The surprise reopening of Maude, a small jewel box of a restaurant on South Beverly Drive that first opened to national acclaim back in 2014, means that the Pie Room by Gwen will be closing its doors on Thanksgiving Day. That project popped up in February 2021 as a “pivot” for the Australian-born Stone and his team, leaning away from upscale fine-dining dishes and into savory comfort pies with roots in Australia and London. Over time the Pie Room menu grew to include sandwiches, breakfast pastries, and a variety of sweets.
The new Maude is now slated to return to the space sometime early next year, though its precise format, day-to-day executive chef, and menu are still to come. When running, Maude was one of the city’s most renowned fine dining destinations, even earning a Michelin star after the big red guidebook returned to Southern California in 2019. At that time the restaurant was leaning into seasonal menus that focused on a particular part of the world (the final menus in March 2020 were a peek into Australia, Stone’s native home), though earlier versions of Maude focused on regular menu changes bent around particular ingredients.
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Beverly Hills, meanwhile, has become one of greater Los Angeles’s biggest restaurant rebound success stories, with projects old and new drawing more eyeballs and dollars as diners return with a passion, ready to spend big. From meat-focused Matū now open down the block, to a big incoming project from none other than Daniel Boulud, it’s a great time to be thinking about eating (or owning a restaurant) in the standalone LA County city.
All is not lost for the Pie Room by Gwen, however, as reps tell Eater that the project does have plans to return, potentially as early as winter or spring of next year, albeit with a new look and location. Stay tuned for more on that front as it comes.
