Costa Manhattan Beach Shuts Doors For Good During COVID-19

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — 2019 was a busy year for Michelin-starred Chef Josiah Citrin. The chef closed his much-loved Melisse in Santa Monica and re-opened it, splitting it in two with a new Melisse and a restaurant dubbed Citrin. He also re-opened Dear John's in Culver City and launched Costa Manhattan Beach in late 2019.

Now, in 2020, the native Angelenos' Costa Manhattan Beach has fallen casualty of the COVID-19 era and all of its dining restrictions. The chef closed the doors to Costa Manhattan Beach permanently at the end of November. If you email the restaurant, you'll receive this reply:

Hello,

Unfortunately with the recent closure of LA County restaurants, Costa Manhattan Beach has decided to permanently shut down. The email account info@costa-mb.com will be monitored sporadically so please direct all requests there, however ben@costa-mb.com will not. I hope to work with you or serve you some time in the future.

Stay Safe everyone,
Ben Pfenninger
General Manager
Costa Manhattan Beach

On its website, which is still online, a pop-up note explains that the restaurant will re-open for Nov. 28 and Nov. 29 and then close. That move came after Los Angeles County announced its outdoor dining ban that began on Nov. 25 at 10 p.m.

Costa described its menu as " progressive Californian cuisine sourcing seasonally influenced and local ingredients." Its interior was described as having a coastal feel.

Costa, along with many other restaurants in the city, had taken advantage of the city's program allowing restaurants to use public parking spaces for in-road dining on dining decks. Apparently, even that, especially when shut down for three weeks, was not enough to keep Costa Manhattan Beach open.