I’m not sure how tall chef Kevin Lee is, because he always seems much larger than life, and he’s always in motion. I last ran into him at his new restaurant MAHT, churning through the excited crowds – 5 p.m. on a Tuesday and the place was already packed – telling his friends what, given the hundreds of steakhouses in our region, sets this one apart.
“It’s exciting,” he gushes. “It’s fun! Just look at the bar!” He gestures at a long bar running the length of the narrow dining room. “It’s the best place to people-watch.”
And indeed it is. But what sets this place apart from all the others is the food, which is very exciting, too, full of unexpected surprises such as scallop risotto with a Bearnaise sauce fortified with kimchi.
For his entire life, Lee has been bombarded with different food influences. He’s avidly sought them out and learned from them. His earliest childhood memories include beef tartare (he loved it) at home in Oklahoma, and a seafood breakfast in Korea. His grandparents first exposed him to Korean food, and that’s an influence you can see in almost anything he cooks. He never thought of becoming a chef, though; he went to the University of Nevada at Las Vegas to study business. To support himself, he got a job at a local sushi restaurant. He loved it so much, he quit school and never looked back.
After training for two years under chef Josh Choi (now vice-president for culinary operations at Wynn Las Vegas), he returned home to Oklahoma. He became one of chef Kurt Fleischfresser’s Coach House apprentices, and then found work at Vast Restaurant, starting at the bottom and working his way up to executive chef. Later, he was the head chef at the Jones Assembly. He also was a frequent competitor on many Food Network shows – he was almost a regular on Beat Bobby Flay – terrified at first but, after a few appearances, suavely self-assured. Whenever he competed against a famous chef, he took the opportunity to learn new dishes and techniques. Lee was, it would seem, at the peak of his profession… but he had never had the chance to cook the way he really wanted.
He got that chance in true Las Vegas gambler style: He put his life savings into building his own restaurant, Birdie’s Steakhouse. His risky gamble turned into a triumph, garnering a James Beard nomination for himself and success for Birdie’s. And now, with his second restaurant, MAHT, he has taken his game to a higher level.
“Birdie’s is,” Lee told me, “Korean food with an American twist. MAHT is a classic American steakhouse with a Korean twist. Now I get to tell my story from both my cultures.”
In many steakhouses, the steak is the indisputable star of the show, and you’d be foolish not to order it. “Is that true here?” I asked Lee, “or are the appetizers and other entrees as good as the steaks?”
“Both!” he replied. And he’s right.
Lee has a way with steaks. It’s all too easy to ruin one, but here (and at Birdie’s), the steaks come firm, juicy and fabulous. But how to choose between that steak and entrees like Gochujiang glazed lamb chops with perilla yogurt sauce? Or soy-braised short rib or soy-marinated cod? Or bluefin tuna tataki with chili crunch avocado mousse? Perhaps the answer is to round up a posse of friends and foodies and try it all.
“I feel like I’ve come full circle,” Lee says. “My dad owned a Korean steakhouse in Korea. Now I own both a modern American steakhouse and a modern Korean steakhouse. I feel like I’ve done my family proud.”
Featured photo credit: The tuna tataki and garlic ponzu at MAHT includes pan-seared blue fin tuna with a chili crunch avocado mousse. All photos by Danny Vo
