Manhattan Beach: Love & Salt Offers Valentine's Day Options

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — After closing for about one month to keep staff and diners safe during the winter spike in COVID-19, Love & Salt has reopened its outdoor dining deck and is serving dinner seven days a week from 4:30-10 p.m. in Downtown Manhattan Beach.

The highly acclaimed restaurant is offering several options for Valentine's Day dining. Those options include

• Takeaway Dinner for Two with a bottle of bubbles [now through Sunday, Feb. 14]. Order here.
• Valentine's Day Sunday Lunch/Brunch and bottomless "Lady in Red" Cocktail
• Valentine's Weekend Specials [Friday, Feb. 12-Sunday, Feb. 14]

The Takeaway Dinner for Two is a four-course feast with four choices of bubbly [select one], six antipasti [you choose two], five pasta choices [you select two], and a Main Plate choice of either Prime Ribeye or Roasted Free-Range Chicken. The meal is topped off with a choice of three desserts [you select two].

The antipasti choices [you select two] are

• Winter Citrus, Beets & Burrata
• Grilled Octopus
• Wood Oven Meatballs
• Grilled Broccolini
• Shaved Black Kale
• Freekehliciuos

The pasta choices [you select two] are

• Rigatoni Pomodoro
• Tagliatelle Bolognese
• Creste di Gallo Midollo
• Trottole Salsiccia
• Strozzapreti Costolette

For dessert [you select two]

• Nonno's Tiramisu
• Buttered Rum Pudding
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch

RestaurantHer Sylvie Gabriele is just coming off the successful inaugural 10-day event for RE:Her and is excited to have diner back outside enjoying Love & Salt's cuisine. She made the decision to close Love & Salt on December 24 "because it was weighing on me that there was no way for me to control who was gathering, and with cases spiking, I didn't want there to be cases at the restaurant after the holidays. I understood the need for families to gather over the holidays as it's been so many months that we've had to social distance.

"At the same time, I felt really protective of my staff, the community, and my family," she told Manhattan Beach Patch. "I thought that the best thing for us to do would be to close for a couple of weeks to flush out any potential cases. I am very happy with the decision."

Love & Salt reopened on January 22, just in time for RE:Her dining events. To reopen and start serving in 2021, Gabriele took several steps, testing staff members two times. "The emphasis continues to be on safety," she said. "I always put my team front and center — we are all putting ourselves on the line. My team is very grateful that we continue to create a safe work environment.

"Of course, closing down [from December 24-January 22] meant that the restaurant would have more revenue loss at a very busy time of year, but it's just one year out of many more to come. The safety of our staff, family and community has to come first."