North Asia, meet South Bay [restaurant review]
I took my wife, who doesn’t enjoy highly spicy food, to a Korean restaurant. It wasn’t with the expectation that she would suddenly change the preferences of a lifetime, or that she lost a bet. We had family in town for the holidays, and one of them craved the famously flavorful cuisine that they had […]
Ten milestones from a strange year in dining
In hindsight, the best that can be said about dining in the year 2021 is that it wasn’t as awful as we were expecting. On December 31 of 2020 the dining scene looked bleak, but we close the books on the 2021 with guarded optimism. Here were 10 of the high and low points: […]
A view of Vista in Hermosa Beach
I love it when restaurants surprise me with ambitious food in odd locations. Finding a great little eatery on a residential side street, in a mall, or in some other unlikely spot is thrilling, a sign someone is so confident about their cuisine that they believe people will go anywhere to get it. It’s also […]
New bakeries, new MB sushi and Chinese noodles, and other dining news
Dash For Dash Dashi: After three years of delay due to permit problems, Dash Dashi Sushi, Grill, and Sake Bar is open in the former Mama D’s on Manhattan Avenue. The menu includes a wide variety of sashimi, small plates, and inventive rolls, with only a few large entrees. They’re serving lunch and dinner daily. […]
The taco reinvented in Redondo – twice
People who grew up in Mexico City find the way Americans eat tacos to be peculiar. Tacos there are a bocadillo, a snack, and making a meal of them would be like eating an entire can of the little Vienna sausages usually found impaled on toothpicks on cocktail party trays. I’m sure people have done […]
A work in progress works well at a Manhattan Beach Cafe
I knew an artist who was extremely secretive about works in progress. She would flip her sketchbook over when I came into the room so I couldn’t get even a glimpse, and more than once I was on the receiving end of an annoyed, “Don’t look at that, it’s not fiiiiinished.” I get that some […]
Local Chinese, native flavors at Seashore in Redondo
Depending on which set of statistics you look at, Chinese food is either the most popular restaurant cuisine in the U.S. or in second place. That includes high style fusion places, down home eateries, and take-out counters all lumped into the one category, but one statistic proves the appeal. There are more Chinese restaurants in […]
Asian arrivals in MB, familiar face at Sea Level, robots on parade, and other dining news
Asian Arrival: Manhattan Avenue will soon have two modern Asian restaurants where previously there were none. After what seemed like years (because it was) the paper is off the windows at Dash Dashi, and the “now hiring” signs are down. The owner hasn’t returned emails about when they might be serving, but the interior looks […]
Eatery offline, food on point in Manhattan Beach
I am old enough to remember the pre-internet age, and still marvel at some of the changes. If you wanted to know when a restaurant was open you had to call and ask, and if you were curious about what they served you had to hope the person on the other end of the phone […]
The universe beneath our feet
Rolling Hills resident Kathy Kellogg Johnson tells the story of the founding of her family’s garden products company as though she were there, even though it happened in 1925. A young man with a new engineering degree from USC didn’t have much money or land. His father had lost his fortune on a contract to […]
Bettolino Kitchen: the restaurant between everything
There are locations that guarantee a restaurant a high profile and public recognition, but that’s a double-edged sword. That coveted ocean view or high traffic walk street comes with a higher rent, and a lot of nearby places also begging for the attention of prospective diners. Add in the parking challenges of high-density neighborhoods and […]
Brazilian in, Trinidadian out, good news for vegetarians, and other dining updates
Faith In The Future: There have been plenty of stories about gloom and doom in the restaurant industry, thanks to rising produce costs due to drought, a labor shortage, and other woes. All the same, very few restaurateurs are leaving the industry, and the lease rates for anyplace with a kitchen have trended up, not […]
Hermosa’s corner of England
Many British pub names are bewildering to Americans. When I mention that I enjoyed an evening of quaffing ale at the Ferret & Firkin, or a glass of fine wine at the Boot & Flogger, people think I made these places up. Nevertheless, I did drink at both, as well as the Bear & Ragged […]
Esperanza in Manhattan Beach is a delight to the eye and tongue
It’s rare an artist’s rendition of a new restaurant inspires outrage, but that is what happened when this publication displayed an image of Esperanza to accompany one of my dining columns in July 2019. The spectacular, curved concrete façade provoked hate mail that declared that something like this would fit in fine in Beverly Hills, […]
The End in Torrance is a ‘Side Street Wonder’
When I visit old cities, I find it charming that most residential neighborhoods have their local cafe, bakery, pub, and some little shop that sells the necessities of everyday life. It’s a relic of a world before the automobile, when neighbors met and socialized in the course of their everyday lives. That little eatery or […]
Mermaid becomes Vista, restaurant and bakery openings, food festivals return, and more dining news
Logic and expediency: The typical business pattern for South Bay restaurants involves a lot of openings early in the summer to take advantage of the tourist season. That schedule has been blown to pieces by a labor shortage, building materials shortage, and city and county permit services that are running months behind. As a result, […]