Manzke Consulting at Le Saint Amour: Calm Down, It's Temporary

A. Scattergood

Le Saint Amour

For those of you who have followed chef Walter Manzke, from Bastide to Church & State, and recently to the Test Kitchen, you can now find him one week a month at Le Saint Amour. Manzke is consulting at the Culver City bistro, which opened a little over a year ago, for the next three months. And as part of that, he'll be behind the stoves for the one week a month, more or less, that he's there, as he helps owners Bruno Herve Commereuc and his wife Florence rework their menu.

As part of the deal, Manzke's former Church & State sous chef John Butler will be cooking full-time for the next six months. When we talked to Manzke, who was cooking at the bistro last night, he stressed that it's a temporary gig and that he's just helping out. Between his Chicago consulting job and working on his own restaurant, details of which are still forthcoming, Manzke just has "too much going on" to be able to do more. So turn off your cell phone, order some of Commereuc's outstanding charcuterie, see what shows up new on the menu, and calm down.