The 49ers’ new home may become the South Bay’s newest restaurant row and remake game day fare in the process. The menu at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara will include such reimagined comfort foods as Wagyu dogs and peanut butter crunch burgers.
Last week, celebrity chef Michael Mina and the 49ers announced a partnership that will bring three restaurants-in-one with Mina’s stamp to the new stadium.
The stadium will be home to Bourbon Steak & Pub, a side-by-side pub and steakhouse adapted from Mina’s award-winning Bourbon Steak restaurant, and Tailgate, a backyard barbecue-themed restaurant.
Mina is a chef and author who, through his restaurant management enterprise, Mina Group, has opened 18 restaurants, including three in San Francisco. He’s also a 49ers fan and a longtime season ticket holder.
The three Levi’s Stadium restaurants aren’t positioned to cater strictly to stadium-goers. Bourbon Steak is primarily a dinner spot and will host corporate events. Bourbon Pub, with its street access, aims to become a lunch spot for the tech crowd.
On game days, Tailgate will take over the other eateries to become a giant, members-only tailgate party. And it’s equipped for quite the party, with a 1,000-person capacity, 70 HD screens and a 13-foot-high rotisserie. (Attendance at tailgate parties is a perk available to season ticket holders who buy an annual Tailgate membership.)
To heighten the friendly competition, for each Tailgate party, Mina will invite a chef from the opposing team’s hometown to dish up some of their own local fare. Mina himself will also cook an all-inclusive five-course meal for these tailgate parties.
The restaurants were announced in a press conference complete with a performance by the Gold Rush, the 49ers cheerleaders.
The three new Mina restaurants are the latest additions intended to distinguish the stadium as a dining destination, and not just for fans. It will certainly help that many of its restaurants, including Mina’s, will be open year-round instead of just on NFL Sundays.