Michael Mina
Michael Mina
Michael Minais an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. He is the founder of the Mina Group, a restaurant management company operating 18 concept restaurants. He is the executive chef at his two namesake restaurants in San Francisco and Las Vegas. He authored his first cookbook in 2006 and has made numerous television appearances. Mina has one Michelin star at each of his namesake restaurants in San Francisco and Las Vegas...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionChef
CountryUnited States of America
cool half high last ran
My last two years of high school, I did work-study half the day, and I ran the restaurant. It was just this little restaurant, but it was just so cool. I had 35, 40 employees.
life people settle time ways works
There are two ways to look at how life works and how people find their paths. One way is you take your time and try different things out. The other is you settle in early. I was into cooking very early.
almost realized
When I first went to Las Vegas, I thought I would never go to Las Vegas; you can't get anything. But then I realized that they were trucking in almost everything; you could get a lot of your product, and I think that's why a lot of chefs actually went there.
grow job mature settle starts time
When restaurants start to mature - and usually the five-year time is the time when the restaurant starts to settle in and have its own personality - your job is to grow it.
confident people
With chefs, the problem is we have to be very confident because people are looking at us for that. So pretty soon, you think you're a plumber, you think you're an electrician, you think you're an accountant.
deeply figuring priority ways
The part that I know I enjoy most is the restaurants. You can't do everything, you know? For me, the priority has been being deeply involved in my restaurants and figuring out different ways to make them run better.
liked
I liked to screw around in the kitchen when I was a kid. But I started cooking when I was 15.
I had always been told cooking was a servant's job.
I like complicated dishes but also appreciate simple foods.
amazing came eat guests kitchen looking passionate people plates watch watching
I loved the cooking; that was what I was passionate about, but getting to watch the guests eat - because you could see everything from the kitchen - just watching people eat and looking at the plates when they came back, just understanding, this is such an amazing job.
bringing kids maybe require time top
Bringing your kids into the kitchen doesn't require you to be a top chef; only time and maybe a willingness to get a little messy.
people
Even in fine-dining restaurants, you have people that say 'I want to be out in half hour', 'I want to be out in 45 minutes.' It happens.
age balanced balancing began eat flavor flavors ketchup kid reason spicy understood until
From a young age, I understood the idea of balanced flavor - the reason you put ketchup on a hamburger. I was that kid who wouldn't eat something if there was something missing. I never really understood it until I began cooking professionally, balancing acids, sweets, spicy flavors and fat.
bringing children enormous kids learned lessons share
I did want to share with you one of the greatest lessons I've learned over the years cooking for my kids - there is enormous value in bringing children into the kitchen.