Michael Mina Doubles Down on Steak at Mandalay Bay

The superstar chef now runs two steakhouses in the same Las Vegas Strip resort.

Stripsteak has been a mainstay of Mandalay Bay since Michael Mina opened it in 2006. That was also the year Mina opened a parallel steakhouse brand, Bourbon Steak, in Scottsdale, Arizona.

While Stripsteak has stuck with two locations in Honolulu and Las Vegas, Bourbon Steak has expanded. The chain’s eighth location opened in New York City in May of 2024, and Mina has capped the year with the opening of Bourbon Steak’s Las Vegas location in the Four Seasons Hotel (inside the Mandalay Bay complex), steps away from StripSteak.

Of note: Mina’s Mediterranean restaurant, Orla, is also in the Mandalay Bay.

PC: Mina Group

“When we talked about Las Vegas and why I said it made sense to have Bourbon Steak here, even though we had Stripsteak upstairs, was the experience of the room was going to be much different,” Mina recently told the Food & Loathing podcast.

“The food here is taking that American food and putting our innovation, our technique and our product into it,” Mina added.

The two restaurants share some of Mina’s signature items, like duck fat fries served three ways and the technique of butter poaching steaks before finishing them on a wood-fired grill. “The technique does not change throughout all 36 restaurants [we run],” Mina emphasized.

He said Bourbon Steak and Stripsteak will have a few items unique to each location, but the big difference will be the environment and the experience.

“The [Bourbon Steak] room is about the evening. You can come here at 4 p.m. when it opens for happy hour when […] your workday is ending, and you can hear the piano playing,” said Mina, who designed the space to help patrons easily flow into dinner.

But the night isn’t over after dessert.

“The vibe kind of starts to roll up… when we’ll have, you know, bands and a deejay. It can be a full night experience ‘til two [or] three in the morning.”

Mina said Bourbon Steak’s larger footprint allows tables to be more spread out to allow for classic, old-school tableside service.

“Fun things [like a] smoked bourbon rubbed tomahawk [are presented] at the table. There’s probably seven or eight tableside dishes […] that will be done.”

PC: Mina Group

Mina’s 25 years in Las Vegas began with Aqua, one of the original restaurants in the Bellagio. Still seafood-centric, it was renamed “Michael Mina” in 2004.

“There’s a nostalgia to a steakhouse: having that ice cold martini or that bourbon, a little bit more flamboyant service.. [to know] that you’re going to walk away full. And then you have to really put time into the innovation and the technique. And most [of it], you know, [is] sourcing amazing products. And it all goes together. And when it all goes together… you have a magical steakhouse.”

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