Walter Manzke leaves Church & State, says his own restaurant is 'lined up'

Walter Manzke leaves Church & State, says his own restaurant is ‘lined up’

By Betty HallockDeputy Food Editor

Feb. 25, 2010 5:10 PM PT

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Church & State chef Walter Manzke is leaving downtown’s most-popular bistro to pursue opening his own restaurant. Manzke says that he has a space (or two) lined up but that nothing is finalized yet.

‘My wife and I came down here with the the plan of opening our own place, and now it looks like we’re really close,’ Manzke says. ‘Everything’s going a little slower than anticipated.... It’s looking like it’s going to take a little time. There are a couple of things I’m looking at, actually.

‘I put in a tremendous amount of time here,’ Manzke says. ‘Basically I’m at the restaurant from 10 a.m. to midnight, and it doesn’t leave me a lot of time for me to work on my own thing.’

Meanwhile, Manzke’s successor begins working at Church & State tomorrow. Joshua Smith was formerly chef de cuisine at Anisette Brasserie in Santa Monica.

-- Betty Hallock

Daily Dish

Betty Hallock

Betty Hallock is deputy Food editor at the Los Angeles Times. She has co-written four cookbooks, including “Bäco: Vivid Recipes from the Heart of Los Angeles,” “Amá: A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen” and “Baking at République.” She started her journalism career at the Wall Street Journal and Scientific American in New York, worked on the L.A. Times’ Business desk, and was interim food editor at Los Angeles Magazine. Hallock also helped launch a food and nutrition vertical for wellness app RoundGlass. She’s a graduate of UCLA and New York University.