With 750 ml, Malo and a pair of Cobras & Matadors under his belt, restaurateur Steve Arroyo is joining the Downtown revival rush with Church & State, scheduled to open in the Biscuit Company Lofts (1855 Industrial St.) by the end of summer. Featuring New American cooking with an as-yet-to-be-defined Arroyo twist, it will be located on the ground floor of the 1925 architectural landmark that was built as the West Coast headquarters for the National Biscuit Company (later Nabisco).
Wolfgang Puck didn't make it in the (possibly cursed) space at 1323 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, but that's not keeping the people behind Houston's from giving it a try with their casual Orange County–developed concept, Café R&D, which is due to open in late summer; word also has it that yet another Cafe R&D will open about the same time in the former Hamburger Hamlet space at 122 South Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills.