Gwen (Stone's meat restaurant)

[onelabneh]

I went recently and had the 30 day dry aged ribeye, wagyu beef cheek gnocchi, and lamb ribs.

The lamb ribs I order almost every time I go, absurdly tender and flavorful.

The ribeye looked much like the one already pictured above and was delicious.

The gnocchi was the first pasta I’ve had at Gwen that was not outstanding. They sprinkle something crunchy over the gnocchi (maybe it was fried beef cheek flakes?) which contrasted poorly with the pillowy texture of the pasta. The dish was not bad, just weak in comparison to their other great pastas.

I’m not a dessert guy generally, but the desserts I’ve had at Gwen have been consistently exceptional. If the sweet corn semi-fredo is on offer when you’re there, do yourself a favor and order it.

[js76wisco]

Thanks. The 30 day dry aged ribeye is probably the steak we’ll end up getting. The lamb ribs sound good but the ladies are baaashful when it comes to lamb.

Forgot about dessert. I was eyeing ice cream places nearby but will keep an eye the sweet corn semi-fredo. I love the corn ice cream from Sweet Rose so this sounds appealing.

[NYCtoLA]

Agreed - the 3+ hour timing estimate might have been the case when they were prix fixe, but I think we were there for two hours.

Re: the doneness of the steak, I think it might be the lighting in the picture. But for my personal preferences, if I’m ordering a steak that’s medium rare, and we’re looking at a cross section/slice, I’m hoping to see red color for, say, 30-40% of the surface area, another 20-30% pink, and a tinge of gray until you hit the crust (for rare, I’m basically hoping it’s red until pretty much the edge). I like how Bestia cooks their medium rare steak, though I have seen a table send their steak back because they thought it was undercooked. The steak we got at Gwen was maybe 5-10% red, 50-60% pink, and then grey.

[js76wisco]

Our meal at Gwen was great, a much more relaxed atmosphere than Maude. Our friends enjoyed their mixed drinks. My friend loved his mezcal drink. The sommelier picked a very nice Ribera from Spain. Went very well with the lamb and steak.

Here is what we ate
Charcuterie plate
Market salad
Scallop crudo
Lamb ribs
Farfale with creamed spinach, mushrooms and breadcrumbs
30 day dry aged rib eye 34 ounces
Roasted carrots
Stick Toffee pudding

Not pictured but NYCtoLA had great pics.
Duck speck was excellent. If the butcher shop was still open we’d have take some home with us.
The steak had the right amount of funk for me. One of the best steaks I’ve had. My wife wanted a few more kernels of salt.
Scallop had a nice lingering spice and vibrancy from the yuzu.
Sticky toffee pudding was dank. Great crunchy bottom and creme fraiche accompaniment. Better than Playground.

Total cost with 18% added gratuity was $460 for 4 people. The steak itself was $135 and wine was $125 so you could choose some lower priced options and have a cheaper meal. Highly recommended.

Knife selection. I chose the handle made of mother of pearl. We really enjoyed the story and background on the steak knives. One person is in charge of all the knives and he knew more than you can imagine about steak knives. It was corny but cool at the same time.

Farfale was a winner and table favorite. Interesting use of creamed spinach. Crunchy breadcrumbs added a nice crunch. Farfale was al dente and nicely cooked. A smallish portion though.

Lamb ribs were fall off the bone. Great contrast with the yogurt to cool off the spice from the lamb. The lamb was succulent and delicious. Thanks for the recommendation.

Salad had a very bright vinegary dressing which helped cut the fat on the ribs and steak.

[tailbacku]

No picture of the steak? I’m assuming it was bone in?

[js76wisco]

Sorry the steak picture came out very blurry. Yes it was bone in 34 ounces. NYCtoLA has a good picture of the steak. I think our steak had a higher % of red vs pink.

My only gripe (since I am cheap) is that the same steak at the butcher counter was $35 per lb. So if we bought the steak at the butcher counter it would have been around $74. Essentially they are charging $51 to cook, cut and plate the steak. I know there is much more to the cost of running a restaurant but that is how I rationalized it in my mind. The cost of the 30 day dry aged rib eye is about the same at Gwen and Eataly. Both are fantastic products. Another reason why I generally cook steak at home because its one of the things I can cook as well if you have the right product, some good salt and cast iron.

Forgot to mention the bread with butter and complimentary nduja is really good. Some of the best restaurant bread we’ve had in a while. The nduja was spicy and delicious.

[Ns1]

@js76wisco

My only gripe (since I am cheap) is that the same steak at the butcher counter was $35 per lb. So if we bought the steak at the butcher counter it would have been around $74. Essentially they are charging $51 to cook, cut and plate the steak. I know there is much more to the cost of running a restaurant but that is how I rationalized it in my mind. The cost of the 30 day dry aged rib eye is about the same at Gwen and Eataly. Both are fantastic products. Another reason why I generally cook steak at home because its one of the things I can cook as well if you have the right product, some good salt and cast iron.

here’s the easiest way to justify something like that IMO:

if Gwen fucks it up, they’ll eat the cost of another one. If you fuck it up, you’re eating overcooked meat because you’re not going to spend $74 on another steak.

[tailbacku]

Yes $51 to cook the steak seems like a lot but it’s just better to not do that math. I mean, when you order a pizza at Mozza, you don’t calculate how much the raw ingredients cost to make that pizza. If you did, you would never eat out.

Also, you really can’t duplicate the flavor of open fire grilling with a cast iron. My friend has a santa maria style grill in his backyard and I love cooking meats on that grill. The smokey flavors I get with oak can’t be duplicated inside a regular kitchen, gas grill, charcoal, etc.

[robert]

Food cost at a restaurant is generally estimated at 35%, and Gwen’s is probably higher. The steaks are probably the least profitable things they sell, if not outright loss leaders.

[tailbacku]

They’re definitely not losing money on steaks

[js76wisco]

@Ns1

If you fuck it up, you’re eating overcooked meat because you’re not going to spend $74 on another steak.

@tailbacku

you don’t calculate how much the raw ingredients cost to make that pizza. If you did, you would never eat out.

I don’t normally calculate the price of ingredients and eat out quite a bit. It just happened that the butcher case is right in the front of the restaurant so I made a mental note. I’d happily pay an $51 extra for that bread and nduja.

[ipsedixit]

@tailbacku

They’re definitely not losing money on steaks

Think again.

Or maybe you failed arithmetic.

[DTLAeater]

A brief update from my dinner last week at Gwen. I think it was well worth the visit and I hope to return to try a more basic meal a la carte to focus on the dry-aged steak options. As a party of 2, we opted for the 5-course pre-fixe so we could try more of the menu as first-timers.

Charcuterie plate and bread. The bread (served with French butter) and the duck charcuterie were amazing. I liked the thin cuts compared to Chi Spacca.

Corn agnolotti. Yum. Amazing crunchy texture combined with sweet velvet fillings. Exceptional and better than at Spago. Favorite dish of the night.

Halibut (i think). Perfectly cooked and the fresh tomato sauce below screamed summer time.

NY Strip with duck fat potatoes and squash. Also perfectly cooked, but you can tell this is an ordinary cut of meat. This is the real downfall of the $85 5-course menu. For the money the amount of food was good, but this was definitely missing some wow factor. The bearnaise sauce helped. Perhaps by design, but it makes me want to come back with a group of four and get the dry-aged ribeye.

Duck fat potatoes were super crispy and flavorful without becoming heavy, and I loved the vinegar sauce to go with it. Squash with yogurt had a middle eastern flair to it.

The knives we chose for our steak.

Churro / mexican chocolate ice cream / flan. All excellent in their own right. Of particular note was the texture of the ice cream and the eggy-ness of the flan (which I prefer over more creamy flans).

Caramels to take home as a birthday gift.

For me, this was plenty of food. Service is pretty warm and no pushing of supplements or higher cuts of meat. Our server handled wine duties fine as we ordered just a rose to carry us through the meal. We did bring a bottle of Brunello but opted not to open it given the diversity of food with the 5-course meal. The somm was only mildly helpful and never saw him again after the initial consultation and him dropping off the bottle we ordered off the list. We only ordered rose because of the charcuterie dish, but the wine didn’t arrive until after, when whites would have paired better with the fish and pasta. The two cocktails we tried (can’t remember their names) were excellent.

I think the move for next time is cocktails, one appetizer, a dry-aged steak + red wine.

[Sgee]

Shame about the steak esp given they’re the sole US importer of these beauties… https://www.instagram.com/blackmorewagyu/?hl=en

[Sgee]

@js76wisco

Knife selection. I chose the handle made of mother of pearl. We really enjoyed the story and background on the steak knives. One person is in charge of all the knives and he knew more than you can imagine about steak knives. It was corny but cool at the same time.

Appears to make more interesting conversation pieces vs. APL’s IMO

[tailbacku]

Given that it’s a charcuterie platter for 2, it’s annoying that they served 3 pieces for 2 of the cuts. Would it have killed them to include one more piece of each so that each guest can have 2 pieces each?

[DTLAeater]

@Sgee

Shame about the steak esp given they’re the sole US importer of these beauties… https://www.instagram.com/blackmorewagyu/?hl=en

Yeah, you have to pay to play here, but at least all the other food was done well. I didn’t ask about the prices of the dry-aged or wagyu beef if wanting to swap out the cut in the pre-fixe or whether that is even possible.

@tailbacku

Given that it’s a charcuterie platter for 2, it’s annoying that they served 3 pieces for 2 of the cuts. Would it have killed them to include one more piece of each so that each guest can have 2 pieces each?

Those were the best two cuts as well! Luckily, between the two I liked the duck one better (left) and she the pork one better (right), but we could have cut them in half if it was more contentious.

[moonboy403]

Reminds of the parting confections given at CUT. There were 3 unique pieces of one bite confections for the 3 of us…

Maybe they wanted us to come back two more times to complete the experience?

[NewTrial]

The Taste of Gwen 5 course is still a great option. The night I was there, it included the charcuterie plate with three dry salamis, two muscle meats, the duck prosciutto and the 'nduja along with that wonderful hot from the oven bread and double cultured butter. The next course was a terrific, single, large scallop on a parsnip puree with a dehydrated persimmon on top. This was followed by a good pasta with porcini mushrooms and then the 12 oz NY Strip, which was served with the wonderful duck fat potatoes and brussel sprouts. The steak was tasty , even without the Bernaise sauce, but somewhat rarer than I would have preferred (I considered sending it back for more fire but that can risk it coming back a bit overcooked and the evening was already getting late). Dessert was a very nice flourless chocolate cake with a malted ice cream. Service was fine, especially from the Somms, and the meal took not quite 3 hours so rather leisurely. I liked the knife selection and absolutely loved the stemware for the wines. The stemware is made specially for Gwen by Zalto (an Austrian company) and is very light and elegant. The wine list was interesting but somewhat pricey. As others have noted, Gwen has an automatic 18% gratuity added. I would definitely go back and am particularly interested in trying the “Shortloin Cut Barley and Rye Finished.”

[onelabneh]

Gwen doesn’t get a lot of shine around these parts, but for my tastes, they have the best steak in Los Angeles in their flat iron wagyu. Pastas and desserts are also consistently strong. And their free stecca bread and butter is a nice change up from the more typical baguette you see around town.