Gold Dig #46

Manhattan Beach Post is one of the only South Bay restaurants on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. It is located in the lovely beach town of… you guessed it… Manhattan Beach, which in my mind is the CA town of movies and TV. Palm tree-lined streets with ocean views, with tan, tank top-clad pedestrians walking around like they don’t have a care in the world. The front of the restaurant opens up completely to the street so you can enjoy the ocean breeze and people watch while you eat.

The Dish

Manhattan Beach Post does American small plates, broken up into the categories of breads, cheeses, cured meats, vegetables, seafood, and meats. Strange as it sounds, the breads are probably the biggest draw of the place, the Bacon Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits in particular.

Bacon Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits

Yes, you go to Manhattan Beach Post for the biscuits, and then you get some other tasty bites while you’re there. But the biscuits are the thing. They are good-sized biscuits, bigger than my fist (though I do have small hands). One order is two biscuits, but we got a double order. Because why wouldn’t you. They come out warm and fluffy, with a cheesy outer crunch and hearty chunks of bacon. Tasty on their own, but also delicious with the maple butter which makes them a creamy salty sweet treat.

Truffle Honey Laced Fried Chicken

The Truffle Honey Laced Fried Chicken was good, but a bit inconsistent. Some bites you didn’t get any truffle honey at all, and it seemed a bit bland. Other bites had all the layers of flavor and made you want to go back for more. And in places the fried outer coating was too hard and thick – like it might cut the roof of your mouth when you bit into it.

Blistering Blue Lake Green Beans

The green beans come in a thai basil and chili sauce, with peanuts and a fairly generous amount of crispy pork pieces. More pork, in fact, than I expected considering the menu just lists the crispy pork as the second to last item in the description. After the biscuits, the green beans turned out to be my favorite item. Really flavorful, with the chili sauce being more sweet than spicy.

Lamb Gyro

The lamb in the gyro was different than any lamb I’ve had before – it was like lamb bacon. Between the lamb, tzatziki, hummus, and tomatoes, the gyro had really nice depth of flavor. I was excited for the side of crispy chickpeas which I usually love, but these were a bit bland.

Bibimbap

I always enjoy this Korean rice dish, served in a hot stone pot so that the rice gets crispy at the bottom. Manhattan Beach Post does theirs with pork belly, which I will never complain about. They give you a squirt bottle of gochujang to season the dish yourself, I suppose to accommodate those that don’t like spice, but I of course used it generously. Not the most amazing or authentic bibimbap I’ve ever had, but sort of nice to have it in the mix of items you can get here.