Agassi's Star Palate: Michael Mina

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Strangely missing from recent press reports about the Star Palate cookbook (see "The Rise of Restaurant Michael Mina") is Chef Michael Mina. Mina split with restaurateur Charles Condy in 2002, taking out of their partnership Nobhill and SeaBlue in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as well as Arcadia in San Jose, while Condy kept San Francisco properties, including Aqua. In July 2004, Mina opened San Francisco's new Restaurant Michael Mina. Mina is strangely missing because partners Andre Agassi and Perry Rogers are backing Mina's new restaurants, and Agassi is deeply involved in his sister Tami's project Star Palate cookbook to raise funds for cancer research (see blog entry "Agassi's Star Palate: Celebrity Chefs"). During an interview for Super Chef, partner Perry Rogers described big plans Agassi and he have for Mina, with Restaurant Mina only the starting point. He mentioned a TV show, cookware and product lines, besides more high-end restaurants. I anticipate that Michael Mina is just about ready to hit the big time as a "super chef" -- if that is what he really wants (I don't advocate one's becoming a super chef; I merely track the phenomenon). Mina has the talent. He has put in the hard work to build a dedicate team. He has lured deep-pocketed investors. He operates well outside one geographic area (San Francisco, San Jose, and Las Vegas). There is only ingredient, national celebrity, missing before he really joins the big leagues -- and Star Palate might have really helped with that. Star Palate will be sold all over the country, even at Costco. Wolfgang Puck has been hawking his soups there (see Super Chef, pp. 33-34). Super chef-baker Nancy Silverton hawks her La Brea Baker breads there, too. If Thomas Keller is part of the endorsing chefs, can Mina be worried about diluting his brand? Or is he one of the few nobles who restrains over-leveraging of his contacts to avoid conflict of interest? What's going on?