For years while overseeing the kitchen at Downtown’s Water Grill, it seemed as if chef David LeFevre had a secret identity. “People here in Manhattan Beach, where I live, didn’t know what I did,” he laughs. “Now they’re like, ‘Whoa, you can cook!’” He calls opening his new beachside bistro, M.B. Post—in the former Manhattan Beach Post Office—“like hosting a party at my house every night. This is the kind of place I’d like to hang out and eat.”
Instead, he’s busy in the kitchen, churning out market-fresh dishes including Australian hiramasa sashimi with yuzu kosho sauce, avocado and puffed forbidden rice; steamed greencurry mussels with Vietnamese sausage and coriander rice; and melt-in-your-mouth Vietnamese caramel pork jowl with green papaya salad and lime.
Sip a Manhattan Avenue cocktail with Sazerac rye, vanilla, caramel and bacon dust as you peruse the list of boutique wines, and indulge in homemade breads and fluffy bacon-cheddar buttermilk biscuits with maple butter. Then assemble a plate from the selection of à la carte artisanal cheeses, cured meats, pickles, olives, honeys, fruit spreads and mustards. For dessert (in season), the strawberry lemon-verbena shortcake is a signature that reminds LeFevre of his childhood birthday cakes. This one, he brags, even outdoes his mother’s. 1142 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach
