Ayesha Curry, Michael Mina readying for International Smoke opening

I caught up with Michael Mina and Ayesha Curry on Tuesday as they were overseeing the progress on their collaborative restaurant, International Smoke. They promise everything is on track for a Dec. 30 opening of the MGM Grand spot, which is in the former Mina’s Pub 1842 space. I couldn’t help noting that the room hasn’t changed much.

“We loved the room,” Mina explains, before pointing out some of the smaller changes.

“Everything’s reupholstered. There’s new paint. We redid some of the kitchen and put in some smokers and a new wood-fired grill.”

This will be the fourth location of International Smoke, which also has outposts in San Francisco, Del Mar and Miami. But Curry told me that she’s still feeling “nervous, but excited.”

“It really never gets old. Every time we do this now it’s just a rush of adrenaline.”

The actress, author and celebrity cook told me that her first experience “partying in Vegas” was her bachelorette party, when she was 22. These days, she says she’s a fan of the food scene. But she wasn’t able to enjoy either aspect of the Strip this time around.

“I flew in this morning, and then I leave this evening in time to tuck my kids into bed. And then I’ll come back the week we open.”

I’ll have some more from my interviews with the pair when it gets closer to International Smoke’s opening date. For now, however, they shared a working copy of the menu.

Contact Al Mancini at amancini@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlManciniVegas on Twitter and Instagram.