Good Ship Lollipop for Adults at MB Post

There’s nothing like a scrumptious lunch waiting at the tail end of a long bike ride to motivate the legs to keep on moving through the crests and troughs of oceanic headwinds on a summer Saturday.

The Marvin BraudeTrail stretches along the California coast from Pacific Palisades to Palos Verdes, only jumping off the beach once to snake its way around the Venice Beach canals adjoining Marina Del Rey. The full loop is 43 miles but this past weekend, the Cute Gardener and I decided to tackle eleven miles at its mid-section from Venice to Manhattan Beach.

Manhattan Beach tends to be a little Stepfordian for my tastes but we were on a mission to try MBPost, the self-proscribed “highly soulful and personal” restaurant created by Chef David LeFevre of Water Grill and Charlie Trotters fame. I was not disappointed.

A friendly atmosphere permeated the place accentuated with blocky, wooden interiors, a full bar, and down home-style food elevated by the Chef from standard, Southern comforts to gourmet, feel-good brunch.  I ordered two of my items from the hand written choices that were added to the menu that morning due to daily inspiration and whatever is ripe and available.

These have taken the favorite biscuit spot on my list for now. Scone-like and gooey with cheddar cheese, butter, bacon chunks and chives and served with a whip of honey butter, they were right up my alley. The CG mentioned that they weren’t really biscuits and wondered why everything had to be covered in such sweet sauces and syrups. He actually may have said something like, “What? Are we six years old where everything has to taste like candy in order to get us to eat it?” Even though he did like the place, it was clearly more geared to the six-year-old little girl in me than the cantankerous, curmudgeon in him.

My salad was a peachy, little pot of stone fruit slices with a nice touch of honey and mint and crushed ice on top. The pluots added a bit of tart to the overall sweetness.

Super yummy, and again a bit sweetened with honey, fried chicken that had a batter of dense yet not dry, flavorful crust.

This sandwich made me swoon. The softest bread ever, verging on pretzel, but not quite and earthy, doughy and yeasty within. It sandwiched a fluffy piece of burrata, a zesty green olive pesto and roasted red pepper. It came with massive chips.

There is also a nice artisan cocktail list, and the CG had one, but I was afraid of getting pulled over for a BUI. Yes, those do exist, as I came to realize when I saw the sign near the marina that they would be performing a checkpoint later on. Biking under the influence is apparently a common crime in these parts with all the Jimmy Buffet style revelry that takes place in all the fish joints near the piers and docks.