Water guy

Gwen (Hollywood)

RESTAURANTS • First Person

At Gwen, where distinctive waters from around the globe are served by the bottle, a squat, white-bound booklet breaks down each varietal’s TDS (total dissolved solids) alongside a short description and a flavor profile. The curator of this tome is Martin Riese, the most well-known (and perhaps only) water sommelier in Los Angeles.

Previously, the German-born hydration expert oversaw the water programs at now-closed restaurants like Patina and Ray’s and Stark Bar. Now, the place you can find Riese on hand as sommelier is at this jewel box-like Art Deco-inspired steakhouse in Hollywood, where the water booklet precedes a cavalcade of dry-aged steaks, seasonal sides, and a housemade charcuterie plate that typically includes a complex, flavorful duck speck.

Since Riese first relocated to Los Angeles in 2011, the world’s appreciation for expensive bottled waters has grown by leaps and bounds. (Who among us can forget the way Saratoga Springs burst into the public consciousness last year after TikTok influencer Ashton Hall’s viral morning routine video, where he not only conspicuously drinks the domestic spring water brand, but dunks his face in an entire bowl of it?) The beverage aisles of Erewhon and other local boutique grocery stores are stocked with the likes of not just mainstream options like Pellegrino and Fiji, but rarer finds like Vichy Catalan, a Spanish, salt-forward personal favorite of mine that I prefer to drink in between heavy, thirst-quenching sips of LADWP’s finest.

Still, there’s a special thrill of sliding into a booth at Gwen and being handed Riese’s little white book, in which one can contemplate the salinity of Armenia’s Ararat versus the smoothness of Denmark’s Iskild. Here, even a complete teetotaler can feel like the finest gourmand. –Patricia Kelly Yeo

→ Gwen (Hollywood) • 6600 Sunset Blvd • Tue-Thu 5-9p, Fri-Sat 5-930p, Sun 430-830p • Reserve.