Matt Masera left his post as executive chef/executive pastry chef at Mother and Empress Tavern recently to join Saddle Rock, the upcoming restaurant from Chris Jarosz of Broderick Roadhouse and Localis.

Saddle Rock (1801 L Street) was billed as a new American restaurant celebrating Sacramento’s history, with innovative fare from Kevin O’Connor, the celebrated young chef behind the Treehouse pop-ups and formerly of Blackbird. O’Connor took a job with an olive oil company in Australia.

Now as executive chef of Saddle Rock, Masera told SN&R this morning that he hopes the restaurant will open in about six weeks. The big renovations are done—the staircase and bar have been replaced, for example—and now the team is down to the little things, such as choose tablewares.

As for Masera’s planned Maiden Ice Cream, part of the expected Mother empire? He still hopes to continue with it in the future, and create full-on desserts based on ice cream that can be sold in restaurants that don’t make desserts in-house. Previously, you could find Maiden Ice Cream at the Mill in its affogatos, but the Mill recently switched to Humphry Slocombe out of San Francisco.