Little Sister, Manhattan Beach (CA)

We were in LA for Thanksgiving and sadly only had time for a too-short visit. Since Thanksgiving itself was obviously spoken for, we had even less time than usual for investigating new places, but the Lovely Dining Companion did her research and discovered Little Sister in Manhattan Beach. It’s about a block from the beach, is “neo-Vietnamese,” and is also unlike most places I’ve ever been.


Front wall

You can’t help miss the front wall—yes, that is butterflies emerging from the machine gun…. It’s dark, has a smoky feel (without the smoke), gangsta rap in the background, and terrific food. Though there is certainly Vietnamese stuff on the menu, you’ll also find things from the Philippines, Burma, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and elsewhere. Oh, and it's busy. Get there EARLY.

I think Jonathan Gold hit the nail on the head with his review in the LA Times. In particular, I think this describes things in a nutshell: “As the murderous butterflies suggest, Little Sister is a date-night restaurant with mayhem at its soul, [chef Tin] Vuong's menu suggests a pan-Asian small plates restaurant retooled to operate in the San Gabriel Valley, each dish twisted not toward the comfortable trio of sugar, garlic and chiles, but toward the wilder palette of fermented flavors, dried fish and gooey texture most common on the other side of the Los Angeles River.”

LDC’s research suggested that we pay particular attention to a few items, including the Imperial rolls (with shrimp, crab, pork, taro root, glass noodle, roasted peanut, chili lime sauce) and the salt and pepper lobster (with shallots, fried chilis, and garlic). So we did. We had the dishes pictured below plus several others but I failed to bring the camera and my phone takes truly crappy pictures—my apologies. Some pictures weren’t even worth trying to save.


duck sate, caramelized pear, almonds, gingered tamarind dressing


imperial rolls, shrimp, crab, pork, taro root, glass noodle, roasted peanut, chili lime sauce


grilled prawns, green papaya, mango, cucumber, onion, cashews, lemongrass-cilantro dressing


salt & pepper lobster, butter fried shallots, fried chilies and garlic


claypot scallops, sweet shrimp, malaysian curry, water spinach, cargo rice, thai basil


szechuan cabbage, crushed peanut, black vinegar

As to the quality of the food, too much time has elapsed for me to say anything detailed about particular dishes. However, after confirming my thought with LDC, I will say this: we had nothing that was not worth repeating. Our biggest disappointment: that we didn’t have enough time on this visit to return. (One note: LDC, whose heat tolerance is somewhere around minimal, found some of the dishes challenging. I don’t think most people would…but for those to whom it matters, take note.)

Little Sister - Restaurant + Bar
1131 Manhattan Ave
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
(310) 545.2096
http://littlesistermb.com/