Curtis Stone's Favorite Pie Filling Isn't Your Typical Flavor - Exclusive

Hailing from Australia, Curtis Stone has become internationally recognized for his talent, wit, and energetic personality. In addition to his many television appearances on cooking shows like "Top Chef Masters" and "Iron Chef," Stone has also gained massive recognition as a successful restaurant owner. With two restaurants in Los Angeles, Stone puts an innovative twist on fine dining at Maude and Gwen. In 2019, Stone branched out from Los Angeles and opened Georgie, a stylish restaurant and butcher shop located in Dallas, Texas. 

However, Stone's latest project makes top-notch dining at home easier than ever. Gathar is a booking platform that makes hiring private chefs incredibly accessible. Though there are plans to expand Gathar across the country, it is currently available in Los Angeles, making it the perfect resource for holiday planning. During an exclusive interview with Tasting Table to discuss the platform, Chef Curtis Stone gave an inside look at his latest and greatest menu highlights, shared some of his most important grilling tips, and even revealed which type of pie is his favorite.

When it comes to pie, many people prefer classic flavors like apple, buttermilk, or blueberry. However, Curtis Stone's favorite pie filling is a savory surprise.

"I love rabbit pies, which I know are not particularly popular here in the States, but when you braise the legs of the rabbit, they fall apart. It's a very delicate flavor, which allows the crust of the pie to speak in volume," Stone shared. "I make a velouté sauce, and you either do it with mushrooms or leeks. That rabbit fricassee ... a little bit of mustard is always nice with rabbit, too, a mixture of dijon and seeded mustard."

While Stone's restaurants are famous for high-quality meats and innovative fine-dining dishes, pie has also been at the forefront of Stone's career. In fact, while Maude went through a temporary closure, he used the space to open and operate the Pie Room by Gwen.

When Curtis Stone's popular "pie room" originally operated out of Maude, there was only one rational oven. While it was definitely a hit, Stone and his team only had the capacity to bake 20 pies at once. Though it is not up and running yet, the Pie Room by Gwen is set to return with a much higher capacity for baking and pie-making.

"Now, with a proper commercial kitchen and bakery, we have deck ovens and all of the things that we need. We've started building that kitchen the way we want it and fine-tuning it to be super-efficient. I don't have [an opening] date yet," Stone explained. "We'll get the product right first, and then we'll probably decide exactly how we bring the pie room back to Gwen. But we will certainly be making the pies available for people to pre-order and pick up both from the butcher shop and probably a delivery element as well. That plan's just starting to unfold now."

While the Pie Room is sure to have a good selection of sweet and savory treats, we're crossing our fingers that we might get to try that rabbit pie that Stone likes so much as well.

Gathar is now available to use in Los Angeles.