In the kitchen with Chef Bell: A Valentine Day romance, through food
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 […]
Intricate, sophisticated, successful, Mar’Sel at Terranea is the antithesis of home cooking
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 […]
Best of the Beach Dining & Entertainment 2024 Winners
Chef, sommelier, wine list Pacific Standard Prime There are many flamboyant, self-promoting chefs in the South Bay, and Christine Brown isn’t one of them. Though she has worked at high-profile restaurants and ran her own for decades, she’s not the type to call a PR person every time she comes up with a new recipe. […]
Beach Cities Wine Dinners: Four meals, 18 wines, uncountable flavors
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 […]
Banana Leaf and Beach Cities Social has a split personality
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 […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Schools
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 […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Orthodontist, Audiogist, Dentist, Dermatologist
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 […]
Best of the Beach 2022 Art Gallery: Mind surfing with Bo Bridges
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 […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Wine Shop, Flower Shop
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 of the Beach 2022: Grocery Store (Independent)
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 […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Meat Market (Independent), Meat Market (chain)
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 […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Surfboard Shaper (underground), Youth Club Sports
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, […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Bike Shop, Camera Shop
Bike Shop Hermosa Cyclery The building used to be a candy store. It still is for the four owners of Hermosa Cyclery, who loved their jobs at the bike shop as teenagers, and inherited it as adults. Founder Harold Schumaker surprised them in his will, bequeathing the four the business. This year is the 20th […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Listing Realtor, Sellers Realtor, Commercial Realtor, Escrow Office, Home Staging
Listing Realtor Amy Cimetta Amy Cimetta offers four strong skills to sellers who list for her, during this time of historically low inventory: Knowledge of the local market, based on her 16 years in real estate; story telling to differentiate her client’s property from other sellers’; professional videos because most buyers are searching for homes […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Electric Bikes
Electric Bike Shop Strand Electric Bikes It started with a cancer diagnosis. After Geoffrey VanSickle had his prostate removed at age 51, amidst a couple other health issues during the same six months, he found he could not handle the exertion of riding a bike. So the former stock car and dirt-bike motorcycle racer converted […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Real Estate Law, Trust Law
Real Estate Law Baker Burton & Lundy For a small town law firm, Baker Burton & Lundy deals with huge numbers, having negotiated nearly a billion dollars in real estate transactions last year. “Our real estate department is led by Kent Burton, who has more than 40 years’ experience,” said Clint Wilson, a partner in […]