Tag Archives: Michael Mina restaurant

Trailblazer Tavern — A Fantastical Taste of Hawaii, and Beyond

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Fried chicken -- Trailblazer Tavern-style.
Fried chicken — Trailblazer Tavern-style.

San Francisco’s Trailblazer Tavern — a collaboration between home-grown Chef Michael Mina, Honolulu chefs and husband-and-wife Wade Ueoka and Michelle Karr-Ueoka, and Marc Benioff’s Salesforce — is full of whimsy from the get-go.

Enter through the Salesforce East building’s lobby and be greeted by a lifelike LED-projection of fish swimming overhead, giving the impression of being at an actual aquarium. There are also playful, cartoon-ish sculptures of a bear, goat, Albert Einstein, and Astro — all part of the official Salesforce Trailblazer Crew, who are meant to represent how the company blazes new trails.

That extends to the restaurant, which opened in late 2018 to serve modern, upscale Hawaiian food in the heart of downtown San Francisco.

Part of the Trailblazer Crew.
Part of the Trailblazer Crew.
So, apparently, is Einstein.
So, apparently, is Einstein.

This is not the first partnership between Mina, Ueoka, and Karr-Ueoka, The couple also opened Burger Hale inside Mina’s The Street Food Hall in Honolulu.

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New Chef Bringing Table-Side Service Front & Center to Bourbon Steak at Levi’s Stadium

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https://www.foodgal.com/2015/07/bourbon-steak-scores-at-levis-stadium/

Executive Chef Lee Bennett putting on a show with crepes Suzette at Bourbon Steak at Levi’s Stadium.

 

Raised in Yorkshire, England, Executive Chef Lee Bennett was head chef at Gordon Ramsay’s Savoy Grill, worked at Alain Ducasse’s Hotel Plaza Athenee in Paris, and has cooked at events for the likes of David Beckham, and the royal family.

Now, he’s bringing his years of classical training and a bit of British sensibility to Bourbon Steak & Bourbon Pub at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

Most notably with table-side service with carts, which he hopes will distinguish Bourbon Steak from other steakhouses in the area.

“The older people remember table service and love it,” Bennett says. “And it’s so old-fashioned that Millennials have never seen it, so they think it’s cool.”

Each day, Bennett plans to feature a rotating special done table-side. It will include everything from beef Wellington or Dover sole finished table-side to bananas Foster flamed in front of diners.

Last week, I had a chance to check out the new offerings, when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant.

Bennett took over the helm at the steak house and adjacent Bourbon Pub in January — just in time for the Super Bowl. Although his wife is American, Bennett says he was still getting the hang of football in the states, when the big game descended upon him.

“I don’t know the game too well,” he says with a chuckle. “But it was a phenomenal experience. We opened up the restaurant after the game because Beyonce, Stephen Curry and others wanted a bite to eat. It was great!”

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Bourbon Steak Scores at Levi’s Stadium

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The bourbon cart at Bourbon Steak at Levi's Stadium.

The bourbon cart at Bourbon Steak at Levi’s Stadium.

There is no pussyfooting around this.

Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara is not inexpensive. It’s a special-occasion place. It’s where you go when you’re dining on an expense account to sink your teeth into an 8-ounce Snake River Farms rib cap for $110 or a Japanese A-5 Kagoshima rib eye for $34 per ounce (with a 3-ounce minimum required).

It’s not a place you’d head to every night. But then again, you couldn’t anyway. Because the restaurant is situated right on the ground level of the 49ers’ stadium, you can’t get into either Bourbon Steak or Bourbon Pub (the contiguous casual eatery) when the Niners are playing home games — unless you are a game ticket holder. In fact, the whole restaurant and pub becomes the ultimate gourmet tailgating extravaganza on game days — but only for season ticket-holders who pony up $5,000 each for the 10-game season. After the game ends, the restaurant and pub are open to any ticket holder.

Similarly, if One Direction, Taylor Swift or any other concert or special event is holding court at the stadium, you can’t get into the restaurant or pub, either, unless you have a ticket to said event.

Got all that?

I think you can guess whose autograph this is.

I think you can guess whose autograph this is.

How many other famous signatures can you spot?

How many other famous signatures can you spot?

The stadium field.

The stadium field.

When dining there, it pays to call for a reservation or to at least check the Levi’s Web site beforehand to make sure no events are happening the night you want to visit. Be mindful that the restaurant is open only for dinner; the pub is open for lunch and dinner.

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