27 Stories
by Chef Michael Bell Being a professional chef and restaurant owner for almost 50 years, dolks have mentioned many times,“It’s my wife’s 50th birthday, or our 25th wedding anniversary is approaching, “ Where should we go to dinner”? My answer is always the same. Go where you are best known. This particular evening is not […]
by Richard Foss One of the delights of dining out is ordering something you can’t possibly make at home because of the complexity of the recipe, special skills required of a chef, or the arcane ingredients. This is the nature of special occasion dining, of treating yourself and your dining companions to something different and […]
by Richard Foss One of the allures of wine dinners is that attendees experience a meal exactly as the chef and winemaker believe it should be. Those experts collaborate to show off the quality of their own and each other’s products and ideas. The result is a thoughtful culinary experience in which each course flows […]
Those who read my columns on a regular basis may have noticed I’m rarely the first to review a restaurant. This is deliberate, because as much as readers may want to know about a new eatery, what they’re doing the day they open may not reflect the long term experience. The chef may discover an […]
Arts Classes Coast Music Coast Music has a unique philosophy when it comes to music education: plenty of rehearsal and performance opportunities for their students. “We offer them real world experience,” Coast owner and founder Beth Rohde said. “We feel it is important to offer our students real-world experience,” Rohde said. “Our teachers are instrumental […]
Orthodontist Dr. John Trotter We are so proud that Trotter Orthodontics has been chosen as Best of the Beach for Orthodontics for 2021. We feel blessed that our practice has been able to provide orthodontic care in the Riviera Village for over 54 years, with the establishment of the practice in 1968 by Dr. Trotter’s […]
A mural by Bo Bridges of a duck diving surfer was recently unveiled by the City of Manhattan Beach on the side of a downtown parking structure. Another Bridges mural is to be installed on the side of the nearby city hall. Around the corner, on Manhattan Beach Boulevard, the newly opened Esperanza restaurant streams […]
Wine shop Uncorked The Wine Shop Uncorked has become a wine lovers dynasty. It started out 11 years ago as a humble little shop on the corner of Pier Avenue and Monterey in Hermosa Beach, expanded to the Pacific Ocean in the form of The Deck down on the Hermosa waterfront, and then took over […]
Best grocery store (independent) GROW Once upon a not-so-distant time, Grow South Bay was the little shop that could. The store packed a lot into its humble 2100 sq. ft. confines on Sepulveda in Manhattan Beach, with an emphasis and extraordinarily fresh fruit and produce and, for lack of a less hip word, a carefully […]
Meat Market (Independent) Manhattan Meats Jacob Walsh started working as a cleaner at Manhattan Meats when he was in high school. Right after graduation, his boss, longtime owner Dean Trimble, asked him if he wanted to work full time. “As long as I don’t clean,” Walsh said. “No,” Trimble replied. “I’m going to teach you […]
Surfboard shaper (Underground) Andy Prunauer Andy Prunauer was given his first blank to shape when he was 15, by underground shaper Mario Ciari. Prunauer surfed with Ciari’s son on the South High surf team, coached by former pro Greg Browning. Prunauer credits Browning with insisting he spend as much time surfing as he did shaping, […]