Michael Mina

Just had another amazing restaurant brand experience at Michael Mina's place in Washington, DC called Bourbon Steak.  I've been to a couple of his restaurants in San Francisco and really enjoyed them.  Great places to sit at the bar and have dinner, especially if you're traveling alone.  He has the restaurant bar thing down!

Start to finish an amazing ride complete with martinis at this gorgeous bar, a signed cookbook which is not easy to come by, and staff that knows how to be friendly but not interruptive.  Perfection.

The best part was right at the start of the meal with a very inventive yet simple amuse bouche.   A sampling of three kinds of french fries with three dipping sauces.  Fantastic.  Never had an amuse bouche like that before.  So cool, so under stated, yet so sophisticated all at the same time.  That followed by oysters and a tuna tartare. Yum.

Wonderful.

This chef has a brand and an amazing brand experience.

What's your experience?  Jim.

Jim Joseph
- President, Cohn & Wolfe NA
- Author, "The Experience Effect" series
- Professor, NYU
- Contributor, "Entrepreneur"