Manhattan Beach Restaurant Called Out for ‘Pretty Korean for a White Guy Bibimbap’ Dish

A restaurant in Manhattan Beach, California has been called out for giving a dish a seemingly racist and misogynistic name.

The dish, which is a “hot cocotte of crispy jasmine rice served with roast pork belly, wilted spinach, shiitake mushrooms, bean sprouts, fermented hot chili paste and sunny sideup egg,” is called “Pretty Korean for a White Guy Bibimbap.” The restaurant has been identified as Manhattan Beach Post, a “soulful, highly personal restaurant by Chef and co–owner David LeFevre,” according to their website.

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A Reddit user shared an image of the restaurant’s menu showing the dish under a selection called “Hangover Enablers,” which included meals such as “Breakfast Chimichanga” and “Corned Beef Hash.”

“Restaurant in Manhattan Beach, CA has this delightfully named dish for their fine, privileged patrons,” the user wrote.

The user, who was a customer at the restaurant, explained that they may have mistaken the dish as referring to a “Pretty Korean” girl when it could have simply meant “Pretty Korean” food made by a White guy.

Another user pointed out that there was no need to include the word “Korean,” as it sounded from their perspective “like some entitled White prick owns that place.”

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Still, another suspected that the dish was a double entendre, or “a phrase open to two interpretations, one of which is sexually suggestive or indecent.”

The word “cocotte,” for instance, has two meanings: (1) the French equivalent for the Dutch oven (a covered heat-proof casserole in which food can be both cooked and served) or (2) a prostitute.

Regardless of the dish’s true reference, users arrived at the consensus that its name could be taken as problematic.

“WTF is that sh*t? Are the Asians in Manhattan Beach just allowing it to go on?” one questioned.

To this, one responded: “This is California, where Asians aren’t accepted in top prime communities like nice oceanfront towns. So they have to settle for second best next to it.”

In an update, the original poster shared a screenshot of the restaurant’s response to what appears to be a direct message on Instagram. The establishment stressed that it had no intention of offending anyone.

“Hello, I can’t begin to express how sorry we are to have offended you with the name of this dish,” a representative opened. “Although our intention was just the opposite, we have obviously missed the mark and feel awful about it.”

The restaurant vowed to change the name of the dish and apologized for the mistake. The representative also stated that their goal is to create a “comfortable and welcoming environment” for guests and crew alike.

“For starters, we will change the name of the dish,” the representative continued. “Our goal at the restaurant is to create a comfortable and welcoming environment for our guests and our crew. We hope that anytime we fail to achieve that, it is brought to our attention so that we have the opportunity to learn and improve. We hope you’ll visit us again and would appreciate the chance to talk with you and make it right.”