How Chef Michael Mina Is Daring To Be Different

Photo Credit: Mark Hanson
Personal truth, just like personal taste, is subjective. Which is why, when chef and restaurateur Michael Mina set out on a mission to tell his story through cuisine, he had to do it his way — staying up until 5 a.m. in his native Egypt, drinking tea with local chefs, cooking in the dirt.

I’d say he dug deep and found what he was looking for, given that his journey has resulted in Orla, his Egyptian-Mediterranean fusion restaurant concept with two major openings last year — Las Vegas debuted in the spring, while Santa Monica just opened its doors on October 15 — as well as his October 8 cookbook release, My Egypt: Cooking from My Roots.

But neither Orla nor My Egypt is what you might expect. Traditional, they are not. But that’s par for the course when it comes to Mina, a chef who’s known for his constant innovation.

Over the course of seven trips to the Gift of the Nile, he sought to learn about his culture the best way he knew how — through its cuisine — and how to best apply it to his future projects.

“The menu I created at Orla is really the foundation of what I grew up eating,” Mina, 56, explains during our Zoom chat. “So, I took that foundation, be it falafel or feteer bread, tweaked it, and then the restaurant and the book became one and the same.”

He shares Middle Eastern delights like said falafel, a childhood staple (his mother’s being the best he’s ever had) was made with chickpeas, tahini, cucumbers, onions, parsley, vinegar, oil, salt, lemon, and diced jalapeños in his household. But in Egypt, it’s made with fava beans instead of chickpeas, which changes its profile. And so, at Orla, he dared to be different, too, going against tradition by adding ahi tuna into the mix and transforming his falafel into more of a crudo.

“This is one of those dishes that I’ve craved all my life, so in as much as you can say that this is a celebration of my heritage, it’s also truly food that I love to eat; it’s food that I love to cook,” he says, adding, “But this is my culinary experience.”

Photo Credit: Mark Hanson

Meaning: this is why he couldn’t create a traditionally Egyptian menu. “Honestly, I would describe it as more Greek than anything else. When I was a child, I thought Greek food was Egyptian because there’s so much crossover. And so, the menu I created at Orla is really the foundation of what I grew up eating.”

That foundation allowed him room to grow and to draw from his inspiration during those seven journeys to the Middle East, inclusive of Cairo, his actual birthplace — which up until 2020, he had not returned to. But once he started uncovering his culinary connection to the past, he felt further compelled to see it through, finding it harder and harder to stay away.

Even in describing something as simple as fruit — he discovered 19 variations of mangos in his homeland — I see his excitement, a renewed passion for his lifelong purpose.

“You’ve got to move it forward,” he insists. “And the way to do that isn’t to throw away tradition, but to implement innovation and technique — which is exactly what I’m doing.” To highlight this, he shares how he’s incorporated said mango, a product of importance in the local culture, in a surprising and non-traditional way (via a mango, avocado, and lobster salad, topped with a mango, saffron, and yogurt dressing).

“That’s why I ended up going back so many times; I needed to discover things for myself,” he explains. “I only had my mom or my aunt’s versions of the things I grew up eating, but I never saw where they truly came from. So, I would sit around all night, just talking and cooking [with local chefs], and I’d learn about the past while also showing them ways to drive this [type of cuisine] forward. This food is the story of my life, and now, I get to share it.”

Photo Credit: Tanveer Badal

Photo Credit: Tanveer Badal

His résumé, as well as his past, is fascinating. Professionally, he has a wealth of experience to draw from, experience that includes formal schooling at the Culinary Institute of America; honing his skills at Charlie Palmer’s kitchen at the upscale Aureole in New York City; opening lauded San Francisco eatery Aqua with chef George Morrone; earning Michelin stars for his namesake Bay Area restaurant; and partnering with tennis pro Andre Agassi (they met at Mina’s restaurant before becoming friends and business partners) to form The Mina Group in 2002, which now operates over 30 restaurants worldwide.

But what, I wonder, made him do this deep dive into his native culinary culture now in particular? The answer: timing, plain and simple.

“I did my first restaurant, Aqua, in 1991. I was enamored by European cooking at the time and had just gotten out of culinary school and had worked at some great restaurants. Then, it wasn’t the right time to do something like this. Put it this way: you couldn’t even sell raw fish at that time because Nobu hadn’t decided to teach everybody in the world about sushi yet, you know? The world wasn’t quite ready for an Egyptian chef then. At the time, my only focus was on getting four stars, and I didn’t think it would be possible to do that with this kind of concept. Back when I started, that was before Michelin. Four stars was as high as you could get in the San Francisco Chronicle. There was only one four-star restaurant, and I wanted to be the second,” he shares.

Mina toed the line, he says, when he opened his steak and seafood concept Seablue in Las Vegas back in 2003. “It was Mediterranean, but not Eastern Mediterranean, though we did dabble in that space. But it wasn’t until I did a trip with my father through the Mediterranean about ten years ago that it really started to click for me. Middle Eastern, Israeli, and Lebanese food started to get popular. [Mourad Lahlou] had done Aziza in San Francisco, and that was Moroccan. At that point, I was thinking, I want to do this, but I really want to do it right, and I want the vision to really come through. So, I opened a test kitchen and created a place I called Middle Terranea there for four months, and that food was this food. People went absolutely bonkers over it. So, then I thought, OK, well, why don’t I turn [my flagship restaurant] Michael Mina, which had Michelin stars and everything, into a super upscale version of this and really go all out? Which we did, for a year, before the pandemic hit. At that time, [my family and I — wife Diane, and sons Sammy, 27, and Anthony, 23] moved to Las Vegas. I had already done a couple of the trips to Egypt, and I was starting to have a new vision in my head that I didn’t want it to be a restaurant that was stuffy or fussy; that wasn’t my long-term goal. This style of food is a celebration; you want it to be loud, you want it to be a party.”

Photo Credit: Tanveer Badal

Photo Credit: Tanveer Badal

In both Las Vegas and Santa Monica — particularly the latter — this is apparent in spades. Dishes like Royal caviar fateer, comprised of Petrossian caviar, clotted cream, red onion, and dill; zucchini fritters with tzatziki, dill, and Meyer lemon; and whipped chickpea hummus served with extra virgin olive oil, za’atar, and foie gras are made to be shared, as is a giant kebab platter for two, full of filet mignon, kofta, and chicken dolmas, served with tangerine labneh and smoked eggplant dips. A new innovation, the Signature Spice Box, features an array of diverse flavors that capture the vibrant history of The Mediterranean Spice Trail, allowing Mina and his team to infuse every dish with rich heritage.

In Santa Monica in particular, the concept is particularly celebratory, in that it’s brought an upscale experience back to the SoCal beachfront that’s been lacking in recent years. The Regent Santa Monica Beach itself is gorgeous, but Orla — which I can only describe as luxury yacht dining — is its star. The concept of the Mediterranean voyage becomes evident when you walk onto the yacht deck flooring, which features elements like a “king plank” through the center of the room. [The plank flooring by Maritime Wood is actually used on boats and yachts.] The banquette design language also speaks to luxury boat detailing with 3-inch-wide tongue-and-groove paneling, high-gloss black paint, and delicate brass metal detailing. Soft caramel banquette seating has contrasted piping and is accented with sage green inset leather tabletops, all leather sourced by Moore & Giles. The grand central bar is a feature piece with brass ornamentation and an enclosed stepped “hat” with a brass inlay starburst pattern on top, depicting an abstract compass that can be seen when standing on the upper floors. Custom Goodshop-designed fish and dessert carts rove from table to table, displaying the catch of the day or a custom sundae. A lower dining room showcases picture-perfect views of the beach.

But its most beautiful space, perhaps, is the “Octo” Room, which was built with Greek mythology in mind. The space has a custom fish and octopus mosaic floor meticulously handcrafted by SICIS in Ravenna, Italy, of which is comprised of hundreds of gorgeous stone mosaic marble cube pieces. Mirroring the mosaic on the floor is a beautiful, hand-painted octopus mural inset in the ceiling by Pretorius Studio; there’s also a large, driftwood sculpture with brass detailing by local California artist Joe Ferriso.

It’s no wonder Mina is so excited by Orla. “This location is stupid good — it’s spectacular,” he enthuses, noting that despite having the same name and a similar menu, his two Orla concepts have radically different feels. “The one here feels so Santa Monica. Do you know what I mean?”

I do. It’s airy, it’s light, it’s fun, it’s California. And though he’s now a Las Vegas resident, at this moment, Mina himself embodies that California boy vibe. At the time of our chat (in advance of the restaurant’s opening), he’s actually at The Regent, stretched out on a lounger, Zooming with me from his phone. He’s relaxed, having just spent the weekend with his friends, peers, and his new Orla Santa Monica crew at L.A. Loves Alex’s Lemonade, a culinary charity event benefitting the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation and its fight against childhood cancer.

Photo Credit: Mark Hanson

“We had a blast,” he enthuses. “I was like, this is the way it’s supposed to be. No fighting, nobody trying to piss on each other’s territory or any of that nonsense. Everyone working, everyone having a great time. So, I feel very good about what’s going to happen here.”

Especially, he says, because typical chefs don’t have the kind of longevity that he himself has. To be here, in this place, trying something new and exciting is everything. “There were a few of us hanging out and talking yesterday — Susan Feniger, Nancy Oakes, and more — and we were saying, Weren’t we all together here 20 years ago? Didn’t we all say we were getting too old for this two decades ago?”

He’s smiling, and maybe because while that might have been true in the past, now, he’s planning things smartly, strategically, and focusing only on the things he’s truly passionate about, be it opening his first Bourbon Steak concept in New York at the newly opened JW Marriott Essex House, or partnering with elevated hotel brands, like Regent, Highgate Hotels, or the Four Seasons.

Photo Credit: Andrew Bui

Photo Credit: Andrew Bui

Photo Credit: Andrew Bui

“We took three years off at Mina Group — but previously, we had opened five or six restaurants a year. Coming out of the pandemic, we really wanted to be focused, to streamline, to change Mina Group considerably. We took a break, built a team, and built technology, because the way I look at it, one and one makes three. So, we shrunk down the amount of hotel partners we work with, and we do more with less; we do more hotels with less partners. Now, we really get to focus on innovation, design, concept, and then operating.”

As much as he’s a creator and a chef, he’s also a businessman with a restaurant group to run, and, as such, these are all things he needs to consider. “Fortunately — or unfortunately — the business piece of the puzzle is very important. I have seen so many super talented chefs fail because of that. You have to be on top of everything. I mean, everyone expects you to know what to do when the toilet breaks. I’m like, I don’t know anything about toilets; I’m a chef. But they come to you for everything, and when that happens, you start to feel like you know more than you do, and that might get you in trouble in certain areas — and if you don’t get it right, you can screw up your whole business.”

There is no way Mina’s going to let that happen, not after he’s done so much — he’s previously had a Michelin star to his name, as well as a slew of awards such as Rising Star Chef of the Year (1997) and Best Chef: California (2002) courtesy of The James Beard Foundation, has been a featured guest chef at the James Beard House on numerous occasions, served as a judge on Hell’s Kitchen and Master Chef, has cooked for three U.S. presidents, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama — and worked hard to make his latest concept — the newly opened Bourbon Steak at mentor Charlie Palmer’s old spot inside the Four Seasons Las Vegas — have the kind of success his other Sin City eateries enjoy (of which include the aforementioned Orla as well as StripSteak at Mandalay Bay, his eponymous eatery, Michael Mina, at The Bellagio, and Bardot Brasserie at Aria). He had to fight, tooth and nail, to make this career possible in the first place, so why wouldn’t he give each opening his all?

Photo Credit: Mark Hanson

  After immigrating from Cairo, his parents landed in the tiny, 18,000-person town of Ellensburg, Washington. Mina, who was only two at the time, was the only Egyptian kid around for miles, in a town whose claim to fame was hosting the second largest rodeo in America. Mina doesn’t ride horses, and he doesn’t wear ten-gallons. He rode motocross and was told by his traditional parents, Ezzat and Minerva, that he had three career options: being a doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer. Expectations of which, clearly, he defied. But again, his name is synonymous with doing the unexpected, going against the grain, and forging his own path.

“I knew what I wanted to do when I was 15 years old, but it took me until I was about 17 to get the nerve up to tell them. My dad was an internal auditor at Central Washington University and ran the business department there. When I told him I wanted to be a cook, it was the first time my dad ever got upset with me. In Egypt, being a cook is essentially like being a servant, and they had immigrated here to give us a chance. They were great parents — I couldn’t ask for better — but it’s just the culture that they were from. And so, it took a year to convince them to let me take time off college; they were so sure I was going to change my mind.”

Luckily, he did not — Mina stayed the course and stayed true to himself. And in the end, he got his just desserts, in more ways than one.

“They’re super happy now,” he confides, before adding with a fond smile, “Though my mom will still tell me when she comes into the restaurant and tries one of my dishes that we make it wrong.”

Not wrong mama Mina — just different — because this is Michael’s story alone, and he’s telling it beautifully in the way only he can.      

Photo Credit: Mark Hanson

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