His story’s well-known among restaurant watchers: Born in Egypt, raised in Ellensburg, Michael Mina went on to seize the restaurant world by the gullet with his upscale seafood at San Francisco’s Aqua in the early ‘90s. After racking up accolades and awards the chef partnered with tennis pro Andre Agassi to pepper the country with concept restaurants, from the elegant Michael Mina in San Francisco to the manly Bourbon Steak in Washington D.C.—and, now, some 17 in between. In June he opened his second RN74 on the corner of Pike and Fourth in downtown Seattle. Five months in, I asked him how it’s going.

“RN74 feels a lot like when I first opened Aqua,” Mina told me by phone from San Francisco. “Seattleites are enthusiastic in that way that says they hadn’t quite known what to expect. In this case I think they weren’t expecting RN74 to be so approachable. They knew it would have fine wine elements so I think they weren’t expecting it to feel casual.”

Mina was touched that so many of his high school buddies came to the opening. “I think there were 18 people from my high school graduating class there. My best friends live in Seattle. I tell you, it’s hard to get my head around how Ellensburg, this whole area, has changed since I’ve been here. It’s always been about farming, yeah…but it was cool when we were trying to find a great source for heirloom tomatoes and I learned that the best came from Ellensburg.”

During a brief stint living in Seattle after high school Mina worked at the Space Needle and the Kirkland Anthony’s HomePort; now he operates 19 of the most sophisticated and high-profile restaurants in the country. What regional dining habits has he noticed? “Definitely there’s heartier food on the East Coast, more traditional French technique,” he said. “The West Coast, spreading from California, is more product-driven, more rustic Italian.”

“And happy hour!” he hoots. “Seattleites are WAY over the top!” Utterly taken aback by Seattle’s bottomless thirst for the late-afternoon “meal,” Mina had to add a cooking station to the back of the house and change up his staffing patterns to accommodate. “Some nights I have half my line busy with happy hour food…it’s amazing,” he marvels. So happy hour is a bigger deal in Seattle than anywhere else?

“It sure feels bigger!” he roars.