Gwen Butcher Shop in Los Angeles delivers the best tasting meats in elegance while still maintaining the original butcher practices in preparing and slaughtering their meats. Here, you will find the best tasting and highest of quality protein meats; they vary from the finest Australian bone-in wagyu to California grass fed to heritage breed pork. The chefs at Gwen Butcher Shop know how to skillfully handle these proteins to serve charcuterie boards and house-made sausages. They even have their own dry age room to produce dry-aged beefs!
Thank you boyfriend for taking me out to this unique restaurant! It was such a meaty 10-course meal! 😉
To start off, we ordered some wine for me lady and my man. To the left, we have a glass of white wine that has skin contact with the grapes; hence, the rose color: Quinto Quarto, Skin-Contact Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie, IT 2015. This is a very cool and refreshing glass of wine to the lips while delivering a warm, fuzzy feeling in the stomach. To the right, we have a glass of sparkling called Ferrari, Brut, Trento, IT NV. This sparkling glass from Italy has a straw-yellow color tone and has overtones of ripe fruit and flowers.
Excuse me for the dim photos this time around.. The restaurant was especially dark (it was hard to see the food) and my boyfriend wouldn’t let me shine my phone light to take more clear photos. Everyone’s tables were close together and we didn’t want to be rude. 🙁 Sadness.
Course one: tartare, cured yolk, bone marrow, shiso. You fork some of the tartare onto the shiso leaf, gently wrap it like a taco and eat it! The shiso leaves were freshly picked (and rinsed and dried I hope). The tartare was very refreshing and had the consistency of diced meats that made it very easy to put onto the shiso leaf.
A closer up of the tartare on the shiso leaf.
Course two: caviar, uni, dungeness crab, sorrel. This is one of my favorite dishes out of the courses! Starting from the bottom layer, you have an uni flan, pomegranate jelly, dungeness crab, a cracker and topped with caviar and sorrel. I remember the layers exactly because I loved it. It was a teeny bit hard to eat because of the different consistency of the layers, but I just cracked the cracker with my fork and tried to scoop all the layers into each bite. The uni flan was very smooth and soft. They were generous with the crab! The sweetness of the pomegranate layer counteracted with the fishiness of the crab and uni.
A close up of my “tart.”
Course three: foie gras, green lentils, thyme. The foie gras was very soft, smooth and tender. It was served on what felt and tasted like a bed of comforting beans. There are crispy mushroom thins on top.
Course four: baby gem, sauerkraut, arugula, caraway. “Baby this is our fish! The crust on top is very hard to cut through,” I said as we tried to knife our way into this peace of lettuce gem. The leaves finally spread out and I realized that this was not a piece of fish (I thought it was trout specifically). We both cracked up at my completely wrong interpretation of this dish. Instead, this piece of baby lettuce gem is served on a very, very light creamy dressing.
Course five: ocean trout, pumpernickel, smoked roe. Now this is our trout fish. The trout looks like a raw fillet of salmon, but it has been cooked at such temperature to delivery a smoky, red trout. It also tastes and feels raw, but there is a strong hint of smoked fish.
Course six: gnocchi, ham hock, salsify, black truffle. The fried gnocchi delivers a very firm crunch on the outside and a very soft and chewy center on the inside. They poured a little chicken stock into our plate. This plate was very savory with all the ingredients together.
Course seven: venison, artichokes, black trumpets. The crust of the venison was covered in black pepper and sesame, delivering a hint of spice with every bite of the chewy, tender and medium rare meat. The artichokes were also crusted with very fine black pepper to give this dish an extra spice.
One of the special moments of dining at Gwen Butcher Shop, regardless of occasion and time of meal, is the opportunity to choose your very own steak knife that have been hand picked by the head chef: Curtis Stone. The knives are stored in a wooden chest. I forgot exactly what country, but all of these knives were from Europe. The handles of the knives are made of real antelope horn I believe.
Hers and his knives.
Course eight: wagyu, pastrami, carrot, potato. This was my favorite dish because of the potato.. (This is not very sad; the potato was just SO GOOD and you wouldn’t expect that out of a potato). The carrot was cooked and covered in a very fine coat of black pepper again I believe. The slice of wagyu was cooked to perfect medium-rare to deliver that soft, juicy, tender meat. They poured a little au jus sauce on top of our wagyu for us. And finally, the potato: this square block of potato had a very firm and crunchy crust. When you cut into it, the inside of the potato was easily cut into layers as if these were like “croissant” layers. Very soft and very SMOOTH potato on the inside. It was almost like a fine-dining version of MCD’s hash brown for me; except in all smoothness.
Course nine: yuzu pavlova, white chocolate, thai basil. They call this their “palate cleanser” as we exit the entree round and enter into the dessert round. The yuzu was very cold, icy cold yet super refreshing and light in flavor at the same time. The super thin piece of white chocolate cracked easily under the pressure of the fork. Thai basil crumbs added a perfect minty element to this refreshing dish.
Birthday cake to the birthday girl 🙂 Thank you! This was easily the most cheesiest and creamiest cheesecake I have ever eaten. (Is that a word? Haha). I LOVED THIS CHEESECAKE. IT WAS SO SMALL AND CUTE. Each bite was overwhelming in cheese and cream. Lots of cheesy cream and creamy cheese. Yum!
Course ten: chocolate praline, caramelized banana, cinnamon. This was a very “big” dessert and there was so much to play with in this course! I wasn’t even sure what was what! The thin crisps of caramelized banana had soft marshmallow-like pillows in between. The ice cream was very cold and refreshing. We just ate everything together! I think it was chocolate praline in the center. Everything was just so sweet and cold and soft and fun to eat!
And as if we weren’t full enough, they gave us a small plate of dessert bites. We were too full to even try to eat these so we just asked for a doggie box to take back with us. The candy wrapper was a soft and chewy caramel. The sugary-coated candy was fruity and chewy. The dark chocolate one was my favorite of the three: it was crunchy, crispy and tasted like a chewy nut on the inside!
Thank you baby for taking me out to eat such a yummy and fulfilling meal! The host was nice enough to escort us back to the front of the butcher station (where all the action takes place) to take a picture!
