High-Low Brilliance by the Beach
PostBoy makes summer dreams come true year round—for patio-lovers, adventurous diners, and anyone craving easy, breezy vibes.
In 2025, business/creative partners Ben Holland and James Galbraith launched what quickly became a sensation: a beach-adjacent restaurant with elevated, coastal-cool aesthetics and globally aware yet Midwest-friendly flavors.
The menu is playful and approachable. Sophisticated, too—earning James, head chef, a James Beard regional semi-finalist nod in the restaurant’s first year.
He starts with Great Lakes staples, then goes down culinary rabbit holes ’til he finds similar-yet-different flavors from around the world. Think pancakes with savory matcha butter and Japanese brown-sugar kuromitsu syrup at brunch. Or for dinner, ‘bigs’ like Halibut al Pastor—prepped in a 24-hour chili marinade and plated with masa aioli, black garlic salsa macha, and crunchy julienned tortillas.
James and Ben cast a similarly wide net when they designed and built out the space, which is an ode to quality, and often local, craftsmanship. See those colorful specks in the custom terracotta-pink bar? They’re chunks of glass James and a builder friend picked out of a salvage pile in Indiana—piece by piece, by hand. The breeze-block walls? Designed by a guy in Bosnia Ben met on Reddit.
There’s a personal relationship or years-long friendship behind everything from the retro speaker cabinets to the hand-thrown ceramic plates. James and Ben are so committed to the creative process and behind-the-scenes collaboration, they even made a documentary about it.
But first, experience it yourself, up close. Find a seat in the sun, start with a house cocktail, and savor all the details that make PostBoy a beauty.
Local Tip: PostBoy keeps their social calendar stacked with DJs and live music on the patio and ambitious collaborations in the kitchen—notably the Abandon Ship series, which invites talented chefs from around the country to New Buffalo. Check Instagram for the latest.
For more of James’ story in his own words, read our interview here.
words Lena Singer
images Lucy Hewett
May 2026
