Maude, Beverly Hills

Had a lovely time at Curtis Stone’s “Maude” in Beverly Hills, went for my birthday to have my first Michelin star experience. Quite satisfied!

First item was a “welcome cocktail,” a frozen bar of green apple mojito with fir pine powder and sorrel on it, very refreshing and fun to eat.

The next three are the “snacks” on the menu. The yellowfin tostada was fantastic, the green on it is tomatillo and it was set on a purple corn chip. A lot of dishes had a crunchy element for texture which I appreciated. Second snack was “pai tee” which was my second favorite thing of the night. The little cups were filled with cured trout and avocado mousse, and topped with smoked trout eggs. So creamy and rich with good trout flavor without being too fishy. Last snack was the green garlic pillow which was basically a tiny salad in a little puff of some kind, had crème fraiche and pickled green garlic inside and microgreens on top.

The nopales dish was interesting; steamed dungeoness crab with cactus and raspberry (menu says green strawberry but maybe they were out?). Sounds strange but it worked, the raspberry acted almost like a vinaigrette to give a burst of acidity and brightness, and the cactus cracker on top added some crunch.

The sea urchin was okay, best uni I’ve had but that’s not saying much for me. I only ever had it before as sushi and described it then as “salt flavored toothpaste” so I was apprehensive. Flavor was good though, nice and creamy, and the mandarin added some zing to cut through the richness. Didn’t really taste the caviar and it could have used another piece of mandarin in there. Not bad though.

The snap peas were my third favorite; it was literally just peas, caviar, jamon iberico and jamon iberico broth. Could have honestly demolished a whole thermos of the stuff. Caviar felt superfluous, not sure it added much compared to the ham and peas but overall delicious.

The homemade bread and butter was good. The butter was aged in house for 10 weeks so it had an almost cheddar like flavor. The bread was apparently the bread from the movie The Menu, which was hilarious.

Halibut was up next and this was my favorite of the night, could have polished off a full entree size plate of it and it’s totally put me in the mood for making bouillabaisse. Everything was perfect, the fish, the mussels, even the sea beans. And the broth? *chefs kiss*

Next was abalone and asparagus over a miso risotto followed by asparagus tempura. Delicious, not much more to say. Abalone was very tender and the tempura was crisp and flavorful. They also had little wedges of limequat to squeeze over them.

Wolf Ranch Quail was good, very well cooked, but the real stars were the sauces. One was beet based and was really thick, almost a puree, and the other was a very flavorful tarragon sauce. Good stuff.

The cheese course was our least favorite, which isn’t to say it was bad or anything, just didn’t wow us like everything else. The cheese itself was sort of an espuma with celery root and truffle underneath, but the overall impression when you get a bite with some of everything was “hot wet cheese.” Eh.

Dessert was amazing, they take you upstairs to their chilled wine loft where you can get coffee, sherry, and a blanket. Started with a strawberry granita palette cleanser, then had pistachio “ravioli” which were delightful. The truffle was chocolate mousse inside a chocolate shell molded from a real truffle, I ate it too fast to get a cross section but it was amazing. Last was a selection of mignardises, with cream puffs, bonbons, and berries rolled in mannitol.

Ambiance and service were both impeccable. Had a lovely evening and glad I went! Definitely recommended.

by Interesting-Fox4064