Fishing with Dynamite UPDATE - Manhattan Beach

It's a warm winter Valentine's day on their parking-spot patio, and the sea breeze blows through the sides. It's a tasting menu for all at this time, with all of the dishes incredible. 

A Japanese Hamachi Sashimi to start, a pearly pink cut cooking in a cool citrus ponzu. Avocado adds to the smooth, buttery texture, and the subtle sweetness contrasts a kick of chile. 

Atlantic Salmon Tartare soaks in a subtle sauce which whispers with ginger and pear. Perfect dip for chips, and they serve it with giant fried wonton.

We splurge for the SS Minnow, but there's plenty of food on the tasting menu alone. Unnecessary but unregrettable, the butter-brine west coast oysters are a spectacular slurp. Clams taste like a salty, tender sea, and the PEI mussels make a sweet-y, meaty middle, the perfect transition to succulent shrimp and lobster. 

Service stops at this point, and I'm none too pleased. We're in no hurry, but the lag between apps and entrees and the blank stare when we ask leaves us on a sour note. 

We eventually receive the Pan Roasted Pacific Striped Bass. The skin is super crisp, and the fish is pure perfection. Topping a sweet potato, tempered by a sharper swiss chard, this dish is one of the best fish entrees I've had this year.  

Steamed Purple Clams and Salt Spring Island Mussels sizzle in a spicy tomato soup with fatty bits of chorizo for flavor. A spear of baguette is spread with a rich aioli, make for soaking in sauce. 

They still make the best Key Lime Pie, a tart filling beneath a magical meringue and above a crumbly graham cracker crust. 

The Chocolate Praline Bar is a rich chocolate crunch, a hunk mousse-y chocolate with hints of hazelnut. Little dots of pear butter add a little floral fruit, and the ice cream cools it down. 

I don't want to say it, but we never recovered from being forgotten. The parking meters are strictly policed in this part of town, and one of us had to leave the table early while the other person paid. It's a long time to be waiting at lunch, and it's terrible to feel forgotten at a place of this caliber. The food is still fantastic, and I'll still be back for more, but it's worth mentioning that this visit didn't go well at a place that's usually the total package.

Fishing with Dynamite UPDATE - Manhattan Beach

My first and only DineLA deal this year. The menu is incredible, and everything they make is so simple yet so complex. Every bite is a flavor-burst, every dish an accomplishment, no details overlooked.

I love Fishing with Dynamite. The crazy thing is, I never thought I would. I wasn't a fan of David Lefevre at fist as his flagship MB Post has rubbed me the wrong way more than a few times, but it's FwD where he truly shines. 

The simple things are simple, but starters like the Raw Bar Platter showcase the quality of the food. The oysters are more butter than brine, and they're sweet enough to entice even the skeptics. The scallops are as tender as a cut of wagyu, and the jumbo shrimp are exceptional and out-of-the-ocean fresh.

The second course requires a little more than shucking an oyster. You better have a steady hand to balance the crab-bread ratio in the Maryland Blue Crab Cake. A few extra crumbs can tip the scales as these slivers of my favorite crustacean are easily overpowered. Not enough crumbs, and you just get a pile of fall-apart crab. This one is perfect. And it's almost all crab, no filler, no bullshit. The house pickles have a lighter acid touch that cuts through the fried breading around and creamy mustard remoulade beneath.

It's called Fishing with Dynamite because the flavors are explosive. The Softshell Crab is lightly fried, and every bite bursts with seafood soup. The inside is a symphony of seaworthy-savor, like a soup dumpling inside the edible shell of a crab. There is a bed of what appears to be a signature summer coleslaw, a creative combo with sharp salsa verde and a gentle lime gastrique. The jicama adds the most gratifying crunch amongst the sweet kernals of corn and, and the candied peanuts make it pop.

The Grilled Albacore is a steak of sea. A weighty barrel of seared tuna, a rare beauty indeed. The sauce is seductively simple. Olive oil draws you in, lemon juice enhances the fish, and the chopped basil lends a breath of fresh fragrance.

Easily the best part of the meal, the Manila Clam Steamers are a show-stopping lagoon of concentrated clams in a shellfish broth that is reminiscent of bouillabaisse but better. This broth takes it to a whole new level that I've never seen anyone reach, and we easily rip through the entire perfect baguette provided to sop up every drop of soup. 

I need a cold shower after those clams. The Key Lime Parfait is a gentler cool-down, a smaller portion of their work-of-art key lime pie, complete with a killer crust and stiff peaks of picture-perfect Kaffir lime meringue.

At the right price and in the right place, Manhattan Beach can be enchanting. Fishing with Dynamite is exactly that place. Intimate, small-scale seafood that literally tastes like passion. They say you never forget your first love...I literally didn't love anything in Manhattan Beach until Fishing with Dynamite.

Fishing With Dynamite - Manhattan Beach

From the shores of Seattle, back to the LA lights. And just in time for Restaurant Week. I love this two-week, twice-a-year tizzy where restauranteurs drive themselves crazy creating theoretically-sound three-course deal-meals, baiting the hook for frugal foodies.

Fishing With Dynamite cast a lure, and they reeled me in so quickly, I made the reservation almost a month in advance. Any item is a steal at $25 there, and their lunch menu looked legit.

The Raw Bar Platter starts things off right with a shellfish trio. The Malpeque Oysters are slightly briny but smooth and light, the Peruvian scallops swim in a pond of lime, and the Jumbo Shrimp are crusty with an ice-cold coat of rock salt.

The Hamachi is seamless, tender spices in creamy avocado and tangy ponzu.

Why choose one crab entree when you can have two? The first one, the Maryland Blue Crab Cake is full of shredded meat with just a dust of crispy crumbs. There is a red, chili-like something on the mix that gives it a some spice. The in-house dill pickles are a welcome break from the heavy remoulade and are among the best pickles I've had.

Same crab, different style. The Softshell Maryland Blue Crab fans its legs over a sprawling bed of red bliss potatoes. The legs are better than the middle, but all the crab is good. Even the salad is minimalistically impressive, perfect potatoes with a cool, refreshing dusting of aioli.

Go crab or go home! But first there is dessert. The Whoopie Ice Cream Pie is a glorified sandwich; no complaints about strawberry ice cream between a couple of cake-like cookies.

Then there was the Key Lime Pie that changed my life. The graham cracker crust is crumbly but firm, cupping a crisp, tart filling topped with the softest peaks of mesmerizing meringue.

I didn't expect such a tiny space for a place that's larger than life. I admired Fishing With Dynamite from afar for so long, and now I'm finally able to sample some simplicity and get a taste of some things truly great. You can rarely rate a restaurant accurately by what they serve during Restaurant Week, but I do like what I'm seeing here.