Curtis Stone’s Latest Restaurant Is Mixing His Household’s Cooking Traditions With the Yucatán’s

Opening a restaurant in Mexico’s Riviera Maya wasn’t an apparent subsequent step for Curtis Stone. In any case, the acclaimed Australian chef is squarely settled in Los Angeles, the place he owns and runs the Michelin-starred Gwen and, beforehand, Maude. However when the Belmond accommodations group approached him about opening a restaurant on a resort they have been refurbishing on this scorching spot simply south of Cancun, he felt a right away connection.  

“[Belmond] actually wished to enhance it — however maintain its pure allure,” he says of the resort, which was beforehand a non-public residence. It’s a departure from lots of the close by seashores, the place giant accommodations have shot up rapidly and pushed a celebration scene full with daytime DJs. However what actually caught Stone’s consideration was the open fireplace that performed a central characteristic of the kitchen the place his restaurant would go. Whereas it’s a longstanding Mayan culinary custom, live-fire cooking runs in Stone’s household, too.

“My granny had an enormous fireplace at their farmhouse [in Victoria]; it’s what she cooked on and it’s what heated the home,” he says. “After I walked into that home I smelled the fireplace, and that’s a really particular scent to me.”

Stone already faucets into that cooking custom at Gwen, however he beloved the thought of doing it via the lens of Mexico’s personal traditions — and culinary strengths. “Mexico is in the midst of an incredible meals revolution,” he says. “And it’s taking place for good cause. The elements right here? It’s unbelievable — it’s like a playground.”

He named the restaurant Woodend, after the city in Victoria the place the household farmhouse is, after which labored together with his group to construct a menu that, he says, is somewhat like “writing a love letter” to the realm.

“I’m actually into telling tales via dishes,” Stone says. “And right here, we’re embracing the Mayan tradition, we’re embracing the elements — however we’re nonetheless cooking in a approach that may be very genuine to us.” 

An amuse bouche of chilled tomato consommé with balls of melon and cucumber evokes the sensation of leaping into a neighborhood cenote to go swimming on a scorching day. The “Mayan rice” is completed risotto-style, however the central ingredient including taste is native chaya greens. Then, in fact, there’s the part of the menu that’s cooked over an open flame.

“There’s an unbelievable indigenous wooden right here that we’ve received our fingers on that’s received a extremely delicate scent,” he says. “And over it we roast lovely meats and seafood from the area.” That seafood contains bluefin tuna from Ensenada and blue prawns from Sinaloa. The prawns are grilled and paired with inexperienced mango, apple, daikon, and almond. 

“[Woodend is] not some steakhouse that we pulled out of Los Angeles or New York and simply threw down right here as a result of we thought folks may be excited about coming to my restaurant,” Stone says. “We wished to faucet into and respect the indigenous tradition.”

It explains why his partnership with Belmond is so seamless. After a full overhaul, Belmond launched Maroma, A Belmond Lodge, Riviera Maya final yr. The model has taken nice pains to supply visitors distinctive experiences that work in concord with the pure environment of the Yucatán. Onsite, there’s a nursery producing endemic vegetation in addition to sanctuaries for indigenous birds, sea turtles, and Melipona bees (a stingless species prized by the Mayans). 

On the spa — by Guerlain — you’ll be able to e book a bee remedy and sound therapeutic session, take a category on native vegetation and herbs on the apothecary, or sweat it out in a temazcal. Whenever you keep at one of many 72 rooms and villas, you’ll robotically have an attendant to curate your go to, whether or not reserving your eating, yoga, meditation, and even sustainable ocean golf. 

It’s also possible to go for extra bespoke experiences like an agave spirits tasting — or a cenote go to. Swim in a single by day, come again and pattern Woodend’s homage to it that night. If Stone and his group are writing a love letter to Riviera Maya, it’s each a chic and real one.