Manhattan Beach Post

Fantasic place! Great atmosphere...Great service (Thank you Rachel)!... Great food! Highly recommend!

We really like this place. We went for afternoon delight Friday...really like their famous biscuit, chicken with slaw, couscous and the green beans! And today Saturday we brought a friend for brunch! And everything is so delicious and shareable!

I am fortunate to travel for a living ... and I get to bring the fam. I’m a musician, producer serious amateur chef, enjoying a Brat in Berlin, an In n Out Bürger every bit as much as The Bazaar by Jose Andreas, just so you get my drift. I’m from Brooklyn but live in North Hollywood me my peeps will go anywhere everywhere for tasty bites. But we rarely get to The South Coast Beach Cities, but with school out, my gourmand 16 year old said “let’s go to Manhattan Beach,” so we researched found MBP. How had this great restaurant eluded our optic? Unassuming beachified in contrast to Chef David Lefevre’s major reputation (inc. “Iron Chef” , Manhattan Beach Post riffs on California cuisine standards with the brilliance of Coltrane. Cheese biscuits, blueberry cornbread to start, accompanied by maple dill butter respectively ... perfect. A cheeseboard with dried raisins, almonds, apricot preserves, apple and warm raisin toast assume the amuse bouche slot in their modest proportion. After all, you’re gonna want to try a lot. My son had the best ever pork meatballs, my wife the gnocchi with crab and a side of sunchokes ... a dish I never cotton to, but MBP prepared them fit for the best tapas joint in Barcelona, gently crisped with a sweet tangy bravas style tomato sauce. I had the hamachi crudo, which my son glommed half of ... and the bay scallops. Let’s be honest almost no one knows how to properly prepare this sweet, gentle shellfish but MPB’s were the best I ever tasted. Likely buttered for a crisping finish, still succulent translucent on the inside, and served over grilled corn kernels in a perfectly foamed sauce. We didn’t save room for desert ... but you know what means ... quoting our former Governator: “I’ll be back.”

Every dish was outstanding. My absolute favorite was the Brussels Sprouts and the bacon cheddar biscuit. Prosciuttos were divine as well, the scallops were seared perfectly and so sweet. Had a wonderful cab and the cheese plate for dessert. So many places doing similar concepts but don’t even come close to the fireworks the food has here. Will be back again.

Today I said so long to a 3 year love affair that I have had. I came to LA to give back to a community but I found a place here that gave me so much more. This is the place that I called home. Great food Great Friends. Thank you to all the staff For the Love you have shown me these last 3 years. You helped me get through.. along with the tequila. In all of my travels, I have never found such a place!! To call it a social house is an understatement. I was always welcomed home,, I will miss you all. And of course the comfort food you gave me!! I just hope I can get a seat at the bar when I next show up.