It is Tuesday night mid-September in Downtown Manhattan Beach just before dusk, the weather is hot and those lucky enough to enjoy a plot of sand on a weekday are treasure hunting for their parked cars hoping the day doesn’t end with a surprise stuck to their windshield. Fashionably well, the evening crowd fills in the vacancy left by the daytime class, Jimmy Buffet beach casual, millennial hipsters, and post-work power suit characters tangle through pedestrian traffic toward a happy hour or restaurant. The great food trends of the last five or so years have permanently migrated down to the South Bay, small plates, gastropub fare, farm to table, tapas, vintage cocktails & craft beer with the likes of Chez Melange’s Bouzy, Eatalian in Gardena, Hudson House and The Source Cafe finding success as some of the original table-setters. A deep cavernous buzz of share plates and wall to wall elbows pack the inside of Manhattan Beach Post every night always accompanied by a long line of eaters waiting to sit down in a location that actually sorted mail during the 1950s to the 1970s.
bacon cheddar buttermilk biscuits with maple butter
There is a genuine openness to M.B. Post, a completely wide open façade of sliding glass and steel sliding doors, an open kitchen for viewing, and long communal tables made from salvaged wood blend together for a tightly packed ambience that zooms around with industrious manner and service. The creation of chef David Lafevre, who once ran the kitchen inside Downtown LA’s Water Grill, spells his menu from all over the world, Korea, Vietnam, Mexico, Japan, Spain, America and beyond. Small share plates, some in form-fitted in cast iron skillets, are open to market fresh terms and often new menu items are penciled in hours before mealtime.
Gigantic Fee Fi Fo Fum fries
If it’s the first time at M.B. Post your server will coach you on the menu and encourage you to experiment with some staples like Blistering Blue Lake Green Beans cooked with crispy pork, chili sauce and Thai basil, bacon cheddar buttermilk biscuits with maple butter (read below), or something from Southeast Asia with a pork jowl or pork belly. It’s plain to see that the service is well-oiled and taught as they distribute an assembly line of small plates to patrons who tend to order in sequential rounds like an Izakaya or Yakitori restaurant. Expect at least a twenty-five minute wait for a bar-stool or share table spot on any given night and there are small tables against the south wall set for couples or parties of four that can be reserved ahead of time.
On Tuesday night the share plates started with some lemon hinted broccoflower (a cross between cauliflower & broccoli) and some seared Diver Scallops, then came the biscuits. Who knew a buttermilk biscuit could get a re-birth as small plate rock star in one of the most cross-fit enclaves of the South Bay, a greasy Crisco-like pair of crusty cheddar cheese topped biscuits with bacon baked in make tasty waves in the salty and savory categories. The maple butter on the side weaves in a sweetness that reminds the child in us why all forms of breakfast pork and pancakes (waffles or French toast too) where never an accident.
Korean beef tongue lettuce wraps
The Korean beef tongue lettuce wraps come three to a plate dashed with mint peanuts, cilantro and some chili spice for a cool nosh without the carbs. Altogether, meaning in one bite, the ingredients of grilled apricots, jalapeno hush-puppies, bbq cranberry beans, and spicy chicken set the flavor at American BBQ with a sweet tang. The gigantically named Fee Fi Fo Fum Fries are exactly that with oversized spikes of potatoes crispy on the outside but soft and mealy on the inside.
A dinner at M.B. Post is wide open, loud, boisterous and tasty and the menu is ever changing with pencil and print. M.B. POST is located at 1142 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach. Vegetable courses $7-$15; seafood $13-$19; meat $31-$21; desserts $5-$7. www.eatmbpost.com