This charcoal-grilled octopus on a scallion pancake beckons from Mina’s dining room.
It’s rare to find a Las Vegas restaurant with 25 years of staying power, but chef Michael Mina has done just that with his Michael Mina in Bellagio—the only of his 38 restaurants to bear his name. Ahead of the restaurant’s birthday this October, Mina has declared this sea-centric haunt to be his flagship and has installed Raj Dixit as executive chef.
Dixit, who has collaborated with Mina for the past decade, keeps the restaurant’s classics such as lobster pot pie and a caviar parfait (which Mina concepted during his honeymoon at the Four Seasons Hualalai by hacking the hotel’s breakfast menu), but his seasonal tasting menus make for one of the city’s most exciting meals.
From his bone broth amuse to his scallop with trout roe en veloute to a bright hamachi crudo that inventively incorporates heat and acid, Dixit’s summer menu is a revelation. Other standouts include curried Santa Barbara spot prawns, black cod and truffled A5 Kogoshima wagyu. Make a reservation, or, if they’re committed, try sauntering up to the bar—which offers prime kitchen views. bellagio.mgmresorts.com
Photography by: COURTESY OF MGM RESORTS INTERNATIONAL
