Michael Mina Reimagines The Las Vegas Steakhouse With His New-Look StripSteak

Chef Michael Mina has unveiled his newly renovated StripSteak at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. And while he says the menu is about 70 percent new and 40 percent larger at the pioneering steakhouse that originally debuted in 2006, Mina knows there are a lot of important elements he must maintain.

This was his first steakhouse, pre-dating the popular Bourbon Steak restaurants he has around the country, and there’s a lot of history here. So meals at StripSteak still begin with a trio of duck-fat fries. The restaurant is still butter-poaching steaks and putting them on a wood-burning grill. It’s still focused on marrying precise technique with premium ingredients.

Mina is also using duck fat for a new baller dish: wagyu prime rib that’s coated with duck fat and dry-aged.

“The flavor of the duck fat is great, but there’s also the caramelization,” Mina says. “Duck fat has a really high smoking point. It really gives that nice deep caramelization on the prime rib, especially when you’re roasting it whole.”

Mina and executive chef Kyle Johnson are getting playful with all kinds of top-tier ingredients at StripSteak. There are caviar-topped yuzu-curd jelly donuts, which are fried and stuffed to order. Those who want traditional caviar service have options including a creamy kaluga hybrid. Foie gras options include foie gras donuts. A roast chicken entree comes with foie gras dumplings. You’re also welcome to order a side of foie gras, of course.

StripSteak is taking advantage of its access to California produce like baby turnips, carrots, radishes and avocados. Mina remembers opening Aqua at Bellagio in 1998, back when getting ingredients was a challenge.

“I had my fish purveyors in San Francisco that were driving me fish,” he says. “I’d have them stop and get my produce from the farms as well. Those days are long gone. Right now, you’re getting everything here, whether it’s from the Santa Monica Farmers Market or anywhere else.”

For example, StripSteak is serving an array of resplendent produce, including California graffiti cauliflower, with a Dungeness crab cake.

But let’s get to the meat of the matter: As always, StripSteak is grilling a wide variety of beef. The menu features Japanese A5 wagyu, American wagyu rib caps, cowboy rib eyes, tomahawks, bone-in filets and much more. Beyond beef, there’s a Kurobuta pork tomahawk. Seafood options like shellfish towers, hamachi nori tacos and miso-glazed sea bass round out the menu.

Mina has always wanted StripSteak “to have energy and to be fun and to take the formality of a steakhouse to a place where it was more chic than formal.” That’s why he started serving duck-fat fries.

Now in 2023, he wants to keep the fun alive with lots of shareable food and “whimsical” flavors.

“People love to eat where they can have, you know, six or seven different starters and share everything and then roll into a nice steak and sides,” Mina says. “It’s just a great way to eat at a steakhouse.”