Fishing with Dynamite

Fishing with Dynamite is a small and I mean tinsy-winsy restaurant opened by Chef David LeFevre.  Same Chef that owns and runs the MB Post a few doors from there in Manhattan Beach. There have been a lot of write ups on how this establishment is so good; known for it's seafood; after all, the Chef came from the famous Water Grill Restaurant which is still considered "king" of seafoods.

The restaurant is definitely worth checking out. Four of my friends were just as eager to go but last night, the four dwindled to two. We had a choice of waiting for the others but I thought we would do them a favor by trying it out and reporting to them whether it was worth their time and money.

The good thing was our reservation was at 5:00 p.m. The city of Manhattan Beach was in the holiday spirit and provided free meter parking.  We parked right in front of the restaurant. We were surprised to see the size. Well, they say size matters......hmmmmm it depends on the customer.

We got our small table next to a couple. They had a seafood platter of assorted oysters. I was so tempted to reach out and take one. My friend does not eat oysters so I didn't want to order a platter just for me. We started with the Maryland Blue Crab Cake served with whole grain mustard remoulade. This crab cake (1) was the best, better than the one I tried at Spago's Bel Air Hotel.
Next time, I would ask for more sauce on the side. It had large chunks of crab fresh as can be. I could have eaten a whole one.

We decided to try their special of the day which was: Whole New Zealand Snapper for Two for $48.00. I asked our server if I could order a side of rice. Nope....they didn't have rice. I then asked if they had mashed potato. No dice...no cous cous either or any starchy substance except for their Fries which we settled for. The fish was dynamite! It was stuffed with garlic, ginger, lime and bok choy, deboned of course (or I would not have ordered it) and tempura fried. The sauce was wonderful but I couldn't help craving for rice which would have gone perfect with it. The fries were very good but it didn't do the fish justice.

For dessert, we both decided to split the Pretzel and Chocolate Bread Pudding served with salted caramel sauce and house made ice cream.  Ohhhh myyyyyyy chewy gooey pudding with the nice texture of the soft pretzel made with dark chocolate.

Would I go back to this restaurant? Yes to try the seafood platter, to have the crab cake again and the pretzel bread pudding, though I heard the Key Lime Pie is also very good. The restaurant seems to be doing quite well so I am hoping they move to a slightly bigger place for a little more privacy as I don't really enjoy listening to the Whole conversation of my neighbor.