Come Homie
Dine and shop at Manhattan Beach’s Favorite New Quirky-cool Downtown Café Homie
Manhattan Beach has become a bit of an epicenter for delicious and stylish restaurants. Woven throughout our beach community are great little haunts like Homie, the new café with an eclectic beach-bohemian vibe that achieved cult-status basically overnight.
“We feel so blessed that our community has embraced us like it has, and the store is doing so well because of everyone’s support,” shares owner and native Manhattan Beach resident Kelley Bailey Haley, who has restauranteering in her DNA, having worked closely for years with the family who owned Tallia’s and also been part of the original crew that opened neighboring Mangiamo’s.
Haley took a hiatus to pursue nursing in a pediatric center, but her dream of opening her own restaurant never left her. “I wanted to create something small, local, and relaxing,” she shares, “so when this particular downtown location came available, I was on it, and it turned out to be such an amazing spot for us.”
Meanwhile, homie’s chef, Jason LeClaire, another South Bay native who has been cooking flavorful simple food for 30 years, co-created the menu with Haley. They selected simple items that they and their kids enjoy eating. “Our desire was to make fun and easy food that was really fresh and thoughtfully sourced,”
Haley explains. Having grown up in Manhattan Beach, Haley wanted to support local business with her venture, therefore she buys all of her meat products from local meat counter Manhattan Meat Market and bread from the Bread Bar bakery in El Segundo, which delivers provisions daily—fresh and still warm.
Patrons delight over yummy dishes like the Home Skillet, a breakfast bowl with white corn baby squash and avocado on cauliflower rice that is served all day. “People love our breakfast burritos, and we kept that item as a nod to our friends who had the space previous to us,” Haley explains warmly. Other favorites are the Street Tacos, and the Bruschetta is quite amazing. The delicious showstopper dessert is the Betty, which is toasted shortcake, fresh mixed fruit and vanilla cream.
The café also serves a variety of craft beer, organic wine and has just added craft cocktails, being one of only 100 restaurants in California that are experimenting with new alcohol concepts like rice-based Vodka. These concoctions make homie the perfect stop for a Bailey cocktail or a Bloody Mary while enjoying the breezy, carefree atmosphere.
Within the walls of homie’s stylish setting, Haley’s mix of eclectic food and trendy retail is spot-on with her vision. “Since the store was zoned for retail-restaurant, we started experimenting with different ideas and came up with our own line of homie-branded products like T-shirts, hats and candles, which are selling like hot cakes, and the rest of the retail just kind of grew from there,” states Haley.
She also does a great business with her jewelry designer Wendy Stillman, who is known for her abstract tribal art and greeting cards, as well as locally designed MB Surplus jewelry that is fun and edgy. When perusing the store, one finds Haley’s very own line of plants and mini succulents from her gardening collection, livingsmall.
Haley, a self-proclaimed picker who loves flea markets, mixing design eras and finding new talent, has blended it all in the winning recipe that is homie.
Homie
1140 Highland Ave, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
310.546.4663 | homiemb.com
