Santa Monica Place signs boutique food stores and a cafe

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The third-level outdoor dining deck at Santa Monica Place will include some fancy food purveyors, the mall’s owners said Monday.

As part of the $265-million makeover of its downtown Santa Monica shopping center, Macerich will add boutique food stores intended to complement the popular Santa Monica Farmers Markets held nearby on Wednesdays and weekends.

‘This is a different kind of venue for small, independently owned shops that want to reach shoppers seven days a week,’ said Michael Guerin of Macerich, who is in charge of finding tenants for the mall.

The newly signed retailers are the Curious Palate, Coco-luxe Confections and Kings Road Cafe. The Curious Palate will be an expansion of a Venice Boulevard store of the same name that is a cafe and market selling such items as artisan olive oils, vinegars, pastas, grains, legumes and local ciders.

Coco-luxe is a small San Francisco confectioner that sells high-end chocolates and wine. Kings Road Cafe is a popular restaurant and coffee house with outposts in Los Angeles and Studio City.

The mall on Broadway just south of the Third Street Promenade was originally designed by architect Frank Gehry. It closed in January 2008 for improvements that include removing the roof to make in an outdoor center. The mall anchored by Nordstrom and Bloomingdales is set to reopen in August, but the third-floor dining and shopping area may not open until early next year.

-- Roger Vincent