Anthony Schutz is a Vegas veteran. He was sous chef at N9NE Steakhouse and Nove Italiano at the Palms, then moved from N9NE Group to Michael Mina’s company. He settled in at MGM Grand’s Seablue with the objective of transitioning the space into the casual, new Pub 1842, where he currently serves as executive chef.
How involved were you in creating the pub concept? I was involved with every part. Chef Michael is very receptive to his team’s ideas and things that I think would work. There’s a very large corporate team and some very talented chefs on the team.
How does the Mina chef team communicate? Once a week we have an hour or two-hour conference call where everyone from all the different venues around the country link together, share ideas and make plans. It’s very organized. By far this was the most organized opening I’ve been involved with.
And Pub 1842 was the first casual restaurant from Mina Group? In Jackson Hole we have a restaurant called the Handle Bar, which is similar to this, but it’s a ski town so people ski down and come in with their boots on and want to grab something to eat before heading back out. So this is not the first casual thing we’ve done, but the whole idea, the whole thing we’re shooting for is fun.
What’s the most fun item on the Pub 1842 menu? The most popular is the bacon cheeseburger. We won the burger cook-off at the last Food & Wine All-Star Weekend. You just can’t go wrong with that gooey cheese sauce and smoked bacon. The most important part is to start with the best ingredients. Our grind is chuck and brisket, and we grind it fresh every day. You can tell from the flavor and how it eats. It’s just a juicier burger.
