There is an abundance of love radiating from this Basque-influenced Virginia Beach restaurant. It’s an instantly happy-making place, from the attentive but cool hospitality that greets you as soon as you step through the door, to chef Mike Hill’s highly shareable menu.
Listed by size, each menu item is a study in layering flavor—like the sultry farro with smoky pork jowl or the creamy white beans with escarole and just the perfect hit of acid to invite bite after bite. A radicchio caesar loaded with plump Alici anchovies and toasted breadcrumbs (which we’ve affectionately dubbed “salad glitter”) shows the range of what a caesar can be. Every dish is like that: an element of the familiar with a pleasant surprise.
In addition to the Spanish-inspired food, Love Song boasts a solid line-up of low intervention wines, which are available to-go by the bottle. Let your server help pick one for your meal (they’re as knowledgeable as they are friendly), and pick up a few bottles for later, but don’t overlook the cocktail menu. From a little corner nook in the front of the restaurant, Love Song’s bar puts out a half-dozen stellar cocktails, including our favorite, the Rude Boy, which combines Plantation and Smith & Cross rums, falernum, pineapple, and lime, and then whips it up with egg white, resulting in a tropical rum sour that, impossibly, pairs well with everything on the menu.
Here, you want a seat at the terrazzo-topped counter, which spans almost the entirety of the dining room and provides a front-row seat to the action in Love Song’s open kitchen. Maybe you’ll catch a glimpse of something on the stove and be moved to order it, and that’s just the thing to do.
CAN’T MISS
Drink: The Rude Boy, plus a bottle of Wild Soul Beaujolais for later
Appetizer: Iberico chorizo with olive oil and a cheese plate with citrus marmalade
Main: Mushroom tartine with eggplant, radish, and soy vinaigrette or the duck confit au voivre over Carolina Gold rice
