Michael Mina
Photo: Hernan F. Rodriguez
With an award-winning cookbook, accolades including a James Beard Foundation Best Chef award and 17 restaurants across the country, chef Michael Mina is a household name in the industry. During the the Savor Borgata event in Atlantic City, where Mina was cooking for 700 people, the Buzz sat down with the chef to find out, among other things, what he considers to be his biggest gamble of his career.
Zagat Buzz: Welcome to the East Coast! What are you preparing for tonight’s event?
Michael Mina: I’ll be making a Nantucket bay scallop ceviche with horseradish panna cotta and tomato gelee, and a butter-poached lobster with sweet-potato crepe and coconut curry broth.
ZB: Your restaurants are a popular draw in Las Vegas and here in Atlantic City. Did you open restaurants in these spots because you like to gamble?
MM: (Laughs). No, no, I don’t gamble at all. I enjoy it, but I have too many restaurants in casinos that I would end up writing them a check every month!
ZB: What do you consider as the biggest gamble you’ve taken in your career?
MM: Probably when I left Aqua in San Francisco and ventured out on my own to open Michael Mina. I put a lot of money and time in the establishment, and that was a big gamble. Thankfully, it worked out.
ZB: Why haven’t you placed your bets on a restaurant in New York City yet?
MM: I absolutely love New York, but there are a couple of reasons that I'm not there. The main reason is that I enjoy NY too much. My best friend lives there, and when I go I really enjoy myself. I'm not saying that I wouldn't enjoy myself if I opened a restaurant there, but it would be different and I would feel a lot more pressure. Plus, there are just so many big chefs in New York, so if I am going to open there, I will have to put in an enormous amount of effort. I have two young boys right now so the timing isn’t right for the focus and effort required.
ZB: How much do you feel that dining guides affect your business?
MM: All of the guides affect business. Zagat especially has an enormous impact on the restaurant business here in the U.S. But dining guides are important for the restaurant business around the world.
ZB: How many restaurants are you planning on opening in 2010?
MM: The only restaurant we have planned to do right now is American Fish in Las Vegas’ CityCenter. I am really excited about it, as the opening is really right around the corner. I did a walk through of the building last week and it is beautiful, really spectacularly designed. I have a lot to live up to there.
–Kathleen Squires