Chef
Rebecca Merhej
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Los Angeles, California, United States
i. Biography
Chef de Cuisine and Pastry Chef at Love & Salt in Manhattan Beach, United States, is the title that defines Rebecca Merhej’s work. In one role, she holds the savory kitchen and the pastry program together, bringing Seasonal Italian cooking into focus at a restaurant identified with the Los Angeles dining orbit but rooted in Manhattan Beach.
The Honours
The clearest recognition in Rebecca Merhej’s career is the kitchen title itself: Chef de Cuisine and Pastry Chef at Love & Salt. It is a dual appointment, and a demanding one, joining leadership over the line with responsibility for the sweet end of the meal. Her public distinction, on the facts at hand, rests on the seniority and breadth of that current position.
The Craft
Seasonal Italian cooking is Merhej’s specialty. That phrase is important because it points to a cuisine built around timing: produce, restraint, and the discipline of letting ingredients speak within an Italian frame. At the Manhattan Beach restaurant, the role also crosses a line many kitchens keep separate. Chef de Cuisine signals command of savory cooking and kitchen execution; Pastry Chef adds another register, one where texture, temperature, and precision shape the final impression of a meal. The combination gives her work a particular scope. Rather than being attached to only one station or course, Merhej’s craft spans the arc of dinner, from the savory structure of the menu to dessert.
The Career
Before Love & Salt, Merhej worked as an employee at Simon LA in Los Angeles, United States. That role places her career within the city’s restaurant scene before her later leadership posts. In 2009, she was Sous Chef at Terranea Resort. The same year, she became Chef de Cuisine at mar’sel, a position she held from 2009 to 2012. That mar’sel period is the first dated Chef de Cuisine role in her career history, and it establishes a clear step from sous-chef responsibility into kitchen leadership. By the time she reached Love & Salt, the shape of her work had widened further: she was named both Chef de Cuisine and Pastry Chef, with Seasonal Italian cooking as the central craft note.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Rebecca
What is Rebecca Merhej known for?
Rebecca Merhej is known for Seasonal Italian cooking and for serving as Chef de Cuisine and Pastry Chef at Love & Salt in Manhattan Beach, United States.
What is Rebecca Merhej's current role?
Her current role is Chef de Cuisine and Pastry Chef at Love & Salt.
Where is Love & Salt based?
Manhattan Beach, United States.
