Chef Curtis Stone to open 120-person events space Grace in Richmond

Melburnians seeking Michelin cred for their wedding or next event are in luck. Curtis Stone is opening his first venue in his home town this spring, a 120-person events space called Grace in the former Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder site.

The chef now lives in Los Angeles, where he runs two restaurants. He launched a catering business, Curtis Stone Events, in 2018 and added an Australian arm in February 2020.

The Richmond space is Stone's first permanent events venue either side of the Pacific. It will host weddings, parties and functions associated with Melbourne's many sporting grounds nearby.

Stone is currently in Australia working with executive chef Travis McAuley (ex Hellenic Republic and Press Club) on menus.

"In the States, we have always come at [catering] with a really premium attitude," Stone says. "In Australia, it's a different market … which I love. You're not just working on Rodeo Drive."

Before the pandemic sidelined events, his team brought a pop-up of his LA restaurant Gwen to Melbourne for The President's Cup in 2019, replenished festival-goers at US music and arts event Coachella, and catered the 2022 Screen Actors Guild Awards in California.

In Melbourne, his menus will showcase top-quality ingredients and channel Australian and US dining trends. His SAG Awards menu was plant-based, for example, and he believes details like silver service are a major draw for diners post-pandemic.

At Grace, designers Studio Y. have added green wainscoting, brass accents and an art deco-inspired mirrored bar, while removing Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder's cheese room.

Founded by Stephanie Alexander and Will Studd in 1997, that business closed in 2019, although both departed in the early 2000s.

The venue is accepting events bookings for November onwards, but there'll also be a taste of Grace at the Melbourne Cup Carnival, when Stone's company caters the carpark and nursery spaces of Flemington.

The name of the venue comes from the daughter of Stone's best friend and business partner Chris Sheldon.

Stone says he has no plans for a Melbourne restaurant while his children are still attending school in LA. "I'd want to do a proper job and be here," he says.

48-50 Bridge Road, Richmond, curtisstoneevents.com