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Celebrity chef, restaurateur and cookbook author Michael Mina was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1969. He was raised in Ellensburg, Washington and took his first cooking job in a French kitchen at the age of 16. After graduating from high school, Mina studied at the University of Washington in Seattle, during which time he worked in SkyCity, the revolving restaurant atop Seattle's Space Needle. However, Mina dropped out after only one year in order to attend the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.

Mina also worked with Executive Chef George Morrone in the restaurant of the Bel Air Hotel. When Morrone left the Bel Air hotel, Mina went with him to San Francisco, where he helped create Aqua. When Morrone left Aqua, Mina assumed the mantle of executive chef and won several awards there.

Formation of the Mina Group

Mina is the executive chef for both of his namesake restaurants, one of which is located in San Francisco, Calif. Mina's other namesake restaurant is in Las Vegas, Nev. In addition, Mina partnered with tennis star Andre Agassi in 2002, and together they started Mina Group, a restaurant management company which owns and operates 16 restaurants in the United States and Mexico.

RN74 at Millennium Tower

RN74 is a bar and restaurant in San Francisco. RN74 was started by Mina, Rajat Parr and Jason Berthold and boasts an extensive wine list which focuses on the Burgundy region of France. RN74 stands for Route Nationale 74, which is the main highway running through France's Burgundy wine region. RN74 is located at 301 Mission St. in San Francisco, at the base of the Millennium Tower. San Francisco's premiere luxury high-rise is the perfect come for Mina's uniquely themed European-style restaurant. RN74 also staffs the Club Level private dining room and bar for Millennium Tower residents.

Awards and publicity

Mina has been the recipient of many culinary awards. Most notably, Mina won Restaurateur of the Year in 2005, Rising Star Chef of the Year in 1997 and Esquire Magazine's Restaurant of the Year in 2011. Also, Mina's namesake restaurant in San Francisco, Michael Mina, was one of only four restaurants in San Francisco to receive two Michelin stars.

Mina was also introduced as a master chef in episode 208 of Hell's Kitchen, a culinary program hosted by Gordon Ramsey. In episode 809, Ramsey visited Mina's XIV restaurant, but Mina himself did not appear. At the relatively young age of 42, Mina has established a full career's worth of praise, yet he shows no signs of slowing down.