Loretta, a chic cocktail bar with a Grateful Dead connection, is coming to downtown Menlo Park

With vibey lighting, hours extending past 11 p.m. and a cocktail menu that changes with the seasons, Menlo Park is getting a new addition to its downtown that could help the city start to shake off its “Menlo Dark” moniker.

That addition is Loretta, a new bar set to open Feb. 3 that’s the brainchild of owner Ali Elsafy, who has run the neighboring restaurant, Bistro Vida, since 1998. When a little over a year and a half ago, the adjacent space at 639 Santa Cruz Ave. — then a furniture store ...