Michael Mina's most personal restaurant — an Egyptian-Mediterranean homage to the chef's Cairo roots, perched at the Regent Santa Monica Beach with the Pacific just beyond the windows. Mina, who built a fine-dining empire from San Francisco's Aqua onward, here cooks the food of his heritage: caviar-topped fateer, charcoal-grilled octopus in saffron broth, mezze and kebab platters threaded with Greek and Egyptian influence. The AvroKO room — golden light, a mosaic-octopus floor, ocean views — matches the warmth of the cooking. Coastal, generous, and quietly ambitious. One of the more soulful hotel restaurants in Los Angeles.