For the summer, Michael Mina 74, inside the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, has been taken over by Pizza & Burger – Michael’s Backyard Kitchen. I had the opportunity to speak with Michael Mina, chef and restaurateur, about his pop up restaurant concept, including the role his two sons played in the menu creations.
Michael Mina started in the kitchen when he was very young, and became the Garde Manger in a small French restaurant when he was a 15-year-old.
In 1991, at the age of 22, he helped design an upscale seafood restaurant in San Francisco from scratch – AQUA, which opened to rave reviews. Over 20 years later, Michael Mina has opened nearly 30 destination restaurants, with four in Florida.
Q. What was your inspiration for Michael’s Backyard Kitchen?
Michael Mina: It’s very much what we say. Michael’s Backyard Kitchen is themed on what goes on in my own backyard at my home in Marin County across from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. A lot of produce is grown in Marin County, and I buy produce from all the farmers around my house for all my restaurants.
We also have four acres where we grow a lot of our product. My kitchen, actually, is a wood-burning pizza oven right in the center of our garden. What I found myself doing for years now, since we really only have Sundays to spend with family and friends, we have people over, and we hang by the pool. I ask my family what they want me to cook, I have one son who loves pizza, the other loves burgers, and my wife loves salads.
I give guests a basket to pick something out from the garden, and I incorporate them into the burgers, pizzas and salads I make that day. Nothing everything cooks well in a 700 degree pizza oven, so sometimes I use my stovetop for dishes, and use the pizza oven to create my pizzas.
Q. Do you ever have fellow chefs come over for your backyard meals?
Michael Mina: Definitely, we have chefs over. We have a lot of chefs. A lot of chefs are my friends, plus we have chefs over from my company. Everyone pitches in. That’s the fun of it.
Q. So when did you decide to make it a restaurant concept?
Michael Mina: A year ago, in San Francisco, we created a Michael Mina test kitchen to try out different concepts. It’s a 60 seat restaurant, and we change out the concept every three months, and dishes every three weeks. So, by the end of three months, we have over 40 dishes done. If we like a concept, we go out and open a new restaurant.
I have always wanted to start this particular concept, but the restaurant’s kitchen was too small. Philip Goldfarb, the president of the Fontainebleau has always followed what we are doing in our test kitchen, and he came to me, and asked why don’t we do something different in the summer, a pop-up, at [Michael Mina] 74, and at a different price point?
I told him I had the perfect thing, ‘Pizza & Burgers’. He said, “Are you kidding me?” But, then, when I explained the concept to him, and sent him the menu, and he said “OK, I get it. Let’s do it!”
It’s been just over a week, and it’s been so busy that we have to turn people away every night.
Q. You are a big time restaurant mogul and a family man, so how do you manage to have the time to be creative and conceive new concepts?
Michael Mina: I’m blessed with an enormous amount of talent around me, especially with the level of our chefs. But, really, it has always been my favorite part of the job; going out to other restaurants around the country, getting new ideas, and dreaming up new concepts. The hard part is execution.
The test kitchen has been amazing because it gives us a chance to learn how to execute in a small environment. We can go from idea to incubation to full restaurant.
Q. Tell us how your sons are involved in the menu creation of Pizza & Burgers?
Michael Mina: My son Anthony, 15, is the pizza guy, and Sammy, 18, and in culinary school, is the burger guy. They both have been coming to work for me since they were four.
It’s nice to have your children around you. I am so blessed, with all the long hours in this industry, to be able to bring your kids to work.
Anthony prefers the kitchen, and Sammy, in culinary school and interested in the business side, likes the front of the house.
Q. What is Anthony’s favorite pizza on the Pizza & Burgers pop up menu?
Michael Mina: Definitely, The Pork Store [Sopressata, Spicy Pepperoni, Pancetta, Sweet Peppers and Bocconini]. He’s very Italian.
Q. What is Sammy’s favorite pizza?
Michael Mina: That would be either The Farm [Bacon, Egg, Yukon Gold Potato, Bermuda Onion, Crimini Mushrooms, and Smoked Mozzarella], or The Surf [Butter Poached Lobster, Chanterelles, Charred Corn, and Summer Truffle].
Q. Tell me about the starter on the menu, The Wings –dressed with popcorn and peanuts. Who came up with that idea?
Michael Mina: That was Jun’s [Jun Hee Lee, Chef de Cuisine of Michael Mina 74 – Miami].
Q. What are your personal favorites on the menu?
Michael Mina: I love The Farm pizza, and the Market Salad –that comes with a Market List which allows you to select seasonal items to create your own salad. I’m a traditionalist, so I like The Dry-Aged Burger [Double Steak Burger, Spicy Onions, Pickles, American Cheese, and Secret Sauce]
Q. Are you currently playing around any new concepts?
Michael Mina: Yes. Right now, in the San Francisco test kitchen, we have an amazing concept called International Smoke. It is barbeque and grilling from all over the world, and about 10-15% American. My chef partner is Ayesha Curry, the basketball player Stephen Curry’s wife.
I joke with her that she’s international. She’s Jamaican and Chinese and grew up in Toronto; so she’s very international with her flavors. It was sold out on the first day, and, now, for the past three months.
Pizza & Burger – Michael’s Backyard Kitchen debuted at Michael Mina 74 at Fontainebleau Miami Beach on June 24th and will remain in place through Labor Day, Monday, September 5, 2016. Dinner is served Tuesday through Sunday from 6 p.m. until midnight.
TIP: Pizza & Burger is only open for dinner, but menu items are available at lunchtime at the pool on the weekends.
Michael Mina 74 is located at 4441 Collins Avenue Miami Beach, Miami, FL 33140 inside Fontainebleau Miami Beach, located right off the main lobby. For reservations or for a takeaway order, call: (305) 674-4636. For more information, visit: fontainebleau.com/dining/pizza-burgers
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