Rustic Canyon to open a new cafe and bakery in 2009

Rustic Canyon Wine Bar & Seasonal Kitchen plans to open a bakery-cafe and retail space next spring about two blocks down the street from its restaurant, near the soon-to-open Santa Monica Seafood.

Owner Josh Loeb says Rustic pastry chef Zoe Nathan (whose star has been rising these days) "will be running the whole thing as far as food goes." Loeb isn't able to disclose the exact address yet because there's still a tenant in the space, but he says he's already signed the lease.

The new cafe, which is not yet named ("We've been bouncing names back and forth," says Loeb), will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and will serve breakfast, lunch and take-out dinner. Expect farmers market salads and sandwiches along with pastries and fresh-baked bread from an on-site bread oven. There will also be gourmet retail items for sale in the cafe's marketplace.

Explaining the expansion, Loeb says, "The kitchen at Rustic is so small, we just can't do everything we'd like to do in it."

— Jessica Gelt

Photo by Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times