It seems another shakeup of chef Michael Mina’s San Francisco empire is afoot. Mina confirms that his barbecue restaurant with multi-hyphenate entrepreneur Ayesha Curry, International Smoke, has closed as of Wednesday, May 20. But waiting in the wings is the surprising return of another Mina project from another era: The test kitchen restaurant that launched Curry’s foray into restaurants is being resurrected, this time as Neighborhood Test Kitchen, debuting in International Smoke’s Millennium Tower space.
What spurred the move to close down International Smoke was twofold. “I feel like that location got caught between two things,” Mina says. “There was the pandemic that everybody [experienced], but there was also construction that only we had
around that building.” That continuous construction, tied to the Millennium Tower’s much-publicized sinking problem, impacted much of the restaurant’s foot traffic. The restaurant was also forced to shrink the menu considerably during those lean times. International Smoke never bounced back as much as other Mina properties in the area. “It almost disappeared for so long between being closed in the pandemic, and being reopened, but having the construction wall and everything — the business didn’t come back as strong as, say, Pabu [Mina’s restaurant in the Financial District].”
The team began considering a renovation to the space post-International Smoke. At the same time, the chef says that the Mina Test Kitchen project was “dearly missed” within the Mina Group, and regulars to that Marina restaurant (which closed in 2019) were still interested in that restaurant coming back. Its new form will be much like the previous version; chefs come through the kitchen for a few months, developing a menu, and serving diners a family-style meal, with feedback from customers at the end. Mina intends to keep the pricing “approachable,” with meals in the $55 to $65 range.
The big difference for those who remember Mina Test Kitchen from its 2015 launch is, of course, the size and location. International Smoke’s space is much larger than the modest Marina restaurant from way back when. Neighborhood Test Kitchen is projected for Fall 2026 opening, depending on construction, and will arrive with a newly renovated dining room, a private event space, and an expanded kitchen.
Residencies will also last longer than the previous iteration of Test Kitchen; chefs will switch every four to six months, rather than the previous two- to three-month timeline. Visiting chefs will come from both within the Mina empire and outside; at Neighborhood Test Kitchen’s launch, Gerald Chin, head of culinary for Mina Group, will lead what they’re calling an American Brasserie menu. The menu is still in development, but already Mina says they’re looking at incorporating things like bread service and dishes like short rib-stuffed potato fondants with French onion soup sauce on top; farmers market vegetable crudite-turned-tableside tossed salad; steak frites; wood-roasted salmon; and chocolate chip cookie dough souffle. He’s also hoping for interactive moments at the table, such as the aforementioned tableside salad, and something akin to “caviar fishing” moments the Mina team sets up for events, where guests “fish” for caviar. Down the line, Mina says they have plans to bring Curry in for a new Test Kitchen project.
In the true spirit of a test kitchen, the menus that make their way through are really a way for Mina Group to explore dishes, yes, but also business opportunities. Between projects, Mina forsees a month or so where the team works out a restaurant refresh, for example, before it rolls out on a grander scale, but it also serves as an opportunity to see if a menu really resonates with the city, with the potential for a spinoff restaurant. “I think it’ll be very exciting for our team, because everyone loves to constantly work on new [things],” Mina says. The idea here is to hopefully keep everyone really motivated.”
