Acqua Bistecca<\/a> in Bonita Springs, Southwest Florida is getting a taste of what earned him that title. The Michelin-starred and James Beard-awarded chef, founder, and executive chairman of MINA Group opened the waterfront restaurant in late January next door to The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Estero Bay. His first project in the area specializes in three favorites\u2014seafood, pasta, and steak. It is one of 30-plus concepts he operates in myriad locations, including Las Vegas, Washington, Miami, and San Francisco. <\/p>\n![\"Lumache](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Lumache-ai-funghi-with-porcini-ragu-truffle-butter-and-aged-balsamic.-Photo-courtesy-of-Acqua-Bistec.jpeg\")
Lumache ai funghi with porcini ragu, truffle butter, and aged balsamic. Photo courtesy of Acqua Bistecca<\/p>\n
The setting provides a prime sunset view that complements Italian-influenced dishes featuring locally caught seafood and local produce. Steaks range from an 8-ounce Angus filet to a 40-ounce Fiorentina porterhouse, all brushed with red Lambrusco butter. Fresh fish is grilled or roasted and served atop a bed of saffron-orange braised fregola. \u201cThis concept is near and dear to my heart,\u201d Mina says. \u201cAqua was where I got my start, and then there was Bourbon Steak. I felt this concept\u2014seafood, steak, and pasta\u2014is where I would eat every day of the week because you can eat in so many ways.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A sampling of meats offered at Acqua Bistecca. Photo courtesy of Acqua Bistecca The term celebrity chef fits…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-235709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/A-sampling-of-meats-offered-at-Acqua-Bistecca.-Photo-courtesy-of-Acqua-Bistecca--1024x682.jpg\")
A sampling of meats offered at Acqua Bistecca. Photo courtesy of Acqua Bistecca<\/p>\n