Dinner by the Fireplace

Cozy up with your sweetheart next to a blazing fire and enjoy a romantic feast.

Chadwick: To the left as you enter this quaint brick house is a quiet little room with a handsome mantle and a roaring fire. On Valentine’s Day you can get a special four-course menu with three choices for each. Here are just a few: cured Irish salmon, duck prosciutto with roasted chanterelles, seared sea scallops with roasted sunchokes and Roquefort-stuffed beef tenderloin. Dessert could be a silk mousse made with Scharffen Berger chocolate smoked with pistachio shells (really) or Meyer lemon angel cake. (Valentine’s Day menu, $85 per person.) Chadwick, 267 S. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, (310) 205-9424.

Four Oaks: This little Beverly Glen getaway is a white cottage partially hidden in the trees, with an intimate dining room with a fireplace, as well as a clever Valentine menu: “A Prelude to a Love Affair.” It begins with “a glance” (spring asparagus salad with caviar vinaigrette), moves to “a flirt” (pommes d’amour--a tomato soup with orange rind and spices), then “an embrace” (glass of champagne) and then to “the dance” (grilled john dory filet or rosemary rack of lamb) and “romance” (white almond swans on a raspberry pond). (A Prelude to a Love Affair, $85 per person.) Four Oaks, 218 N. Beverly Glen Blvd., Bel-Air, (310) 470-2265.

Saddle Peak Lodge: This retreat in the mountains above Malibu boasts two fireplaces--one in the cozy library, the other in the main dining room. (where many a proposal has taken place). The four-course Be My Valentine menu is full of choices. You might start with Maine lobster salad with asparagus, parsnip puree and vanilla bean sauce followed by a foie gras with brandied cherries, toasted brioche and baby greens. For the entree, perhaps seared elk tenderloin with porcini, whipped potatoes and black truffle parsley jus, and to finish it off, a chocolate souffle with Belgian chocolate sauce. (Be My Valentine, $85 per person.) Saddle Peak Lodge, 419 Cold Canyon Road, Calabasas, (818) 222-3888.

The Hump: Settle by the fireplace and watch the twinkling lights come and go on the Santa Monica Airport runway. Special sushi straight from Japan include tai (red snapper) and kampachi (young yellowtail). Tataki-style Spanish mackerel comes with vegetables, sesame and ogo kelp. Tokobushi is sauteed abalone with shiitake mushrooms and asparagus. For dessert, spicy sweet ginger ice cream. (Special sushi, $7; Spanish mackerel, $15; tokobushi, $24; ginger ice cream, $5.) The Hump, Santa Monica Airport, 3221 Donald Douglas Loop S., Santa Monica, (310) 313-0977.

French 75: This retro bistro has flattering lighting, two fireplaces and traditional French food. Get a booth near the fireplace and split an order of escargots. Follow it with trout with brown butter and almonds, served with wilted frisee tossed in brown butter vinaigrette, or enjoy duck three ways with wild rice in tart grape sauce flavored with peach. Then split the chocolate souffle, served with warm chocolate sauce and Grand Marnier whipped cream. (Escargots, $11; trout, $27; duck, $28; chocolate souffle, $12.) French 75, 1464 S. Pacific Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, (949) 494-8444.

Hotel Bel-Air: This hideaway features two fireplaces and two dining experiences. The second is in a more relaxed setting in their lounge/bar, one of the most romantic rooms in Los Angeles. The formal dining room has an early four-course meal which includes lobster bisque, foie gras terrine and a choice of herb-crusted turbot, guinea hen or filet of beef. The six-course dinner adds lobster a la nage, warm goat cheese feuillete, pear and greens, heart-shaped chocolate marquise cake and pistachio custard. The more relaxed lounge bar menu includes caviar, smoked salmon and the same three entrees, as well as a wide range of desserts and petits fours. (Four-course menu, $95 per person; six-course menu, $180 per person with champagne Laurent Perrier Rose Brut; caviar, $90-$110; smoked salmon, $20; turbot, $35; guinea hen, $32; filet, $39.) Hotel Bel-Air, 701 Stone Canyon Road, Bel-Air, (310) 472-1211.

Jessica Strand