Fine Italian-Californian Fusion Style restaurant

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October, 2005 - Spaghetti Western

June, 2004 - Celebrating New Ownership

 The Web site for Lido di Manhattan describes the restaurant as “Italian-Californian Fusion”-a jumble that allows the kitchen to serve pretty much anything.

And indeed, the first item on the dinner menu lives up to that description. It’s a lobster wonton taco, made with cilantro vinaigrette- which is to say, an Asian-Mexican dish with a French sauce. Add some French fires and ketchup, and it would be all-American as well. This is Blended Cuisine taken to its more interesting edges.

This is not to imply that the menu at Lido di Manhattan, which sits between Houston’s ad Bristol Farms in Manhattan Marketplace in Manhattan Beach, is awash with oddball combinations and outré preparations.

Certainly, there’s a spicy ahi tower (which isn’t so much a tower, as it is a bunker-a short pile of ahi and avocado, cilantro and pepper.) And there’s a dish of ahi carpaccio with asparagus tempura, and a snappy wasabi mayonnaise. But otherwise, this is more a modern Italian restaurant than the land where fusion runs rampant.

What’s Californian is pretty much Californian-such as the grilled lobster tail and baby spinach salad, the blackened shrimp and chicken salad, and the grilled scallop and watercress salad. (What can I say? We like our salad out here on the Left Coast.)

Beyond that, this is a restaurant where you can get a nice order of bruschetta, a proper caprese and a good spaghetti puttanesca.  Though they like to mess around, they don’t mess with the classics, at least not too much.

My favorite bit of creative messing around at Lido is what they do with their osso buco. Now, I’m sort of nuts for osso buco; I consider it to be one of nature’s most perfect foods. Consider: It’s made of tender meat, tasty sauce, and a bone you can loudly suck dry (unless you like to use those tiny forks they give you with osso buco, which don’t do nearly as good a job as a deep inhalation).

Most restaurant serve osso buo as osso buco, often atop some orzo pasta. But at Lido, they give you a choice. You can get a big osso buco, in the traditional style, or a “petit” osso buco on risotto.

The little osso buco isn’t really that little, but it I that good-a best-of-all-worlds dish that tosses in risotto for good measure. (It’s an odd sort of risotto, though, with each grain of rice separate, rather than melded together with cheese and butter. It’s sort of a minimalist risotto, an exercise in rice. It tastes good, but it is a bit unexpected.)

About a third of the menu is pasta-what you might call Lido’s Italian bonafides.

By contrast, the entrees are wildly eclectic. On one level, Lido could be perceived as a steakhouse with pasta (in the style of The Palm). There’s a 10-ounce filet, the rib eye and the New York both weigh in at 14 ounces, and the porterhouse is a hefty 20 ounces.

Though there’s chicken Parmesan among the entrees, most of them lean toward California-the charbroiled swordfish, the seared ahi, the steak and tiger prawn combination, the pork tenderloin with an apple walnut compote.

And if you finish early enough, you can always take care of your shopping at Bristol Farms-I love cheese for desert, and Bristol has cheeses to spare.

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Celebrating New Ownership!

June 16, 2004

Last Friday ownership of the Lido di Manhattan Restaurant, located in Manhattan Marketplace next to Bristol Farms on Rosecrans, officially changed hands. Lisa Hemmat, a Trojan Alum of the USC Entrepreneurship Program, took over the previous ownership by Don Foley and Kim Barry who began the Italian California cuisine style restaurant twelve years ago. While the prior owners were unable to spend the necessary quality time needed at the restaurant due to other obligations, Lisa has dived in with a passion for the business and a commitment to bring the sleepy restaurant back to life. With a genuine belief in Lido’s enormous potential, she is revamping the atmosphere and livening up the restaurant with special events, happy hours, live music and wine tastings, all fueled by an energetic kitchen staff and a fresh, innovative new outlook. Although the restaurant does have an established base of “regulars” and loyal customers, Lisa hopes to get South Bay residents more involved in this restaurant that has been one of Manhattan Beach’s best-kept secrets. Currently she is offering a Grand Opening Dinner Special, which includes one of the restaurant’s Selected Premium bottles of Red or White Wine for ten dollars with the purchase of two dinner entrees. Additionally, there are new Happy Hour and Early Bird specials from four to six in the evenings, Monday through Friday, that will feature unique drink and appetizer combinations for each night of the week. The food is as diverse and creative as the environment with options ranging from Ahi towers and lobster tacos to traditional Italian dishes, large salads and steaks. The delicious selections are accompanied by an extensive selection of top quality wines. The stylish atmosphere of traditional elegance combined with a contemporary flare, makes the lounge area and bar an inviting space for social activity and happy hour cocktails, while the leather booths and colorful artwork create an interior palette of comfort and class. Additionally, there is a large private patio adorned with white lights that seats up to 55 people at the rear of the restaurant that can be rented or used for events and special occasions. On Friday, July 2, one of the first events will be held to celebrate the change of ownership of Lido. Starting at 7pm on the back patio, there will be live music by Seattle native Chris Forry, accompanied by drink specials and appetizers. All are welcome to attend! Lisa plans to have the official Grand Re-Opening of the Restaurant take place over the weekend of July 30th , and is in the process of coordinating different events and parties for South Bay residents to attend.

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