A Busy German Restaurant Group Goes California Casual in Long Beach

A new Long Beach dining option is coming to the Bixby Knolls neighborhood soon, and from a well-known restaurateur duo no less. Bjoern Risse and Bülent Yildirim, who cooperatively operate popular mostly-German spots like Wirtshaus in Los Angeles and Rasselbock (both in LA and Long Beach), have partnered up again for the new Wood & Salt, a laid back California casual eatery that opens early next month.

Risse and Yildirim have brought on Brian Lavin, formerly a chef-partner at the lauded (and now closed) Gnocco in Baltimore, to oversee the restaurant, with plans to focused on housemade pasta with Tehachapi grains and wood-fired bone-in pork chops, chicken, and more. There’s beer and wine to start, with full liquor to come hopefully later this year. The opening menus for Wood & Salt at 4262 Atlantic Avenue are below.

As for the space, expect a large open-air patio to start (of course) plus sidewalk and parking lot seating. Eventually with the resumption of dine-in service Wood & Salt will grow to close to 100 seats, with bar seating and casual wooden tables, all inside a dining room wrapped in floral and flamingo wallpaper.

Long Beach, meanwhile, has continue to grow in culinary relevance over the past year, with a slew of openings both pre- and post-pandemic, including the popular Little Coyote pizza shop, a new sandwich restaurant from Philip Pretty and his sister and partner, and the new standalone bakery from longtime underground legends Gusto Bread. Expect and early opening for Wood & Salt on September 9.

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