In the early hours of the morning, flour puffs like small clouds around the kitchen of one of Long Beach’s newest restaurants. Kneading a combination of salt, flour, water and eggs, chefs warp the dough and roll it into delicate sheets of pasta. From there, powdered hands meticulously cut the sheets with cookie cutters and ridged pastry wheels.
Fresh pasta is the tour de force of Wood & Salt Tavern, a sleek restaurant wedged between a Brooklyn deli and the Long Beach Historical Society on Atlantic Avenue.
The first of its kind in the area, Wood & Salt focuses on handmade pasta, proteins cooked in their wood-fired grill and a menu that changes in unison with seasonal solstices and equinoxes.
“Our concept is modern Californian cuisine,” Risse said.
Last week, Wood & Salt held their grand re-opening and launched their summer menu—complete with seared scallops marinated in Valdivia farm tomatoes, squash blossoms doused in a mimosa vinaigrette and a summer truffle lasagna with foraged mushrooms and fried thyme.
“We will change the menu for every season to make sure that we have the best ingredients available and give the customers the best experience possible,” Risse said, noting that many of his ingredients come from the Santa Monica farmer’s market.
Though Wood & Salt has been officially open since last September, the restaurant wasn’t able to fully reopen until recently. Risse signed the lease for the space in March of last year. Just two weeks later, California would face its first shutdown.
“Obviously we were a little bit nervous and a little bit scared,” he said. “Because nobody knew what was happening.”
Wood & Salt enjoyed a short period of outdoor-only dining after they officially opened, but had to shut down when COVID-19 case numbers increased in the winter and a flurry of health restrictions came back into force.
Though they faced financial hardship, the fledgling restaurant didn’t have a year’s worth of financial records—a requirement to qualify for the Paycheck Protection Program.
“We decided to stay focused, to see the positive and focus on the positive,” Risse said.
Wood & Salt persevered through the pandemic, offering pick-up orders and slowly growing a community of devoted foodies. Executive Chef Philip Mack said rigatoni short rib bolognese was their most popular dish, serving up to 50 in a single night.
For those who don’t consume meat, fear not. Mack said the plant-forward summer menu has been tailored to cater to vegetarian, gluten-free and pork-free dietary restrictions.
Soon, they’ll add a cocktail menu to their list of offerings, a staple in any restaurant boasting California cuisine.
Wood & Salt isn’t Risse’s first foray into the restaurant industry. He owns three other restaurants, all of which are focused on German cuisine. Wood & Salt is Risse’s first attempt to “branch out and do something different.”
“I don’t think that there’s anything close to our concept in Bixby Knolls,” Risse said.
Wood & Salt Tavern is located at 4262 Atlantic Ave. The restaurant is open Monday through Thursday 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 4 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Sundays from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Richard H. Grant contributed to this report.
