Australian embers: Chef Curtis Stone runs BeachLife Nights’ VIP food

by Garth Meyer

Curtis Stone stood in the audience in May at BeachLife watching a band – his 12 year-old son’s. “The Rookie Five” had won a battle of the bands and earned a slot on stage. 

Allen Sanford, BeachLife co-founder and longtime restaurateur, ended up standing next to Stone.

“We just got chatting,” said Stone, from Melbourne, Australia, and now a renowned L.A.-based chef.

This weekend, he will lead the food operation in the V.I.P. section at BeachLife Nights in Seaside Lagoon.

“I love what Allen does down there with BeachLife and we’re stoked to be coming back,” Stone said. “My son likes to remind me, ‘I got you the job.’”

Stone specializes in barbecue, though the term seems inadequate.

“We love cooking over a live fire,” he said, the owner of Gwen, for the past nine years, a butcher shop and restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. 

On the menu for BeachLife Nights are pork butts, sliders, fried chicken, homemade hot dogs, meat pies and vegetarian options. Stone and crew cook over an “asadore,” a steel circle seven feet in diameter, with four different crosses.

“I’m hoping for no wind so that smoky flavor stays on the meat,” he said. 

The hot dogs for BeachLife Nights were made Tuesday at Gwen; ice-emulsified beef, smoked. Stone also got firewood organized, before food prep on Wednesday.  

He started his career as a butcher at 18 years old. 

He learned about cooking meat from his grandparents at their ranch an hour outside of Melbourne. On the way, music was often heard.

“As an Aussie, INXS is on everyone’s playlist at one time or another… I love Midnight Oil,” Stone said, while his main interests were punk from across the oceans, as well as ‘90s rock, led by Australians Silverchair.

“My wife and I, we let our son join a band, while we gently aimed to influence the music they play,” he said.

So far it is working.

Stone moved to America in 2006, temporarily to do a T.V. show; “Take Home Chef,” which ended up lasting 140 episodes, and two years. He liked Southern California, met his wife here and stayed. 

He now has a second restaurant, the Pie Room, opening in two weeks in Beverly Hills. He runs a food events business also.

At BeachLife Nights, the meat pies will consist of braised beef, red wine, onions, carrots, celery, tomato (with a soft “a” as he pronounces it) with butter and beef tallow in the crust. 

Stone’s businesses do a “give-back” program each year, choosing one non-profit to benefit. In 2024, it is Chrysalis, an organization which helps people get back into the workforce after hardship such as homelessness or jail. Their clients have worked at Gwen.

As far as music festivals, Stone did a pop-up restaurant one year at Coachella.

“But never anything like this, 1,000 people both nights,” he said, referring to the BeachLife Nights V.I.P. section capacity behind the main stage. 

He’ll be cooking from 4 – 6 p.m.

“Then I’ll be bellied up to the stage, mate, enjoying some music,” he said. ER