Jue Let is supposed to be fun. The 4-foot chicken foot disco “ball” sporting a jade bracelet that dangles from the ceiling tells you as much. The bar’s boozy cocktails, two karaoke rooms, and Chinese divination machine, really dig into the theme too, which chef-owner Jennifer Hwa Dobbertin sums up in one word: “funky.”
The three-time James Beard Award semifinalist and woman behind San Antonio’s Asian-Texas restaurant Best Quality Daughter opens Jue Let on Saturday, November 22 at the Pearl in San Antonio. The bar sits catty-corner from Hotel Emma, taking over the former Blue Box space.
For Jue Let, Dobbertin tapped several longtime collaborators — cocktail veteran Lis Forsyth, chef de cuisine Alan Dale Nelson, and designer-artist Jennifer Ling Datchuk. Grace Boudewyns of Lake|Flato architects, one of the original architects on Best Quality Daughter, returned to design the two-floor, 2,500-square-foot space. The crew reunited to pay homage to a historical figure whose story Dobbertin has been eager to share.
John-Paul Garrigues
The real Jue Let was a Chinese-American immigrant cook who played a formative role in the early life of the real James Beard. Through research Dobbertin was struck by how deeply Beard’s early life was shaped by Chinese culture. Let worked at the family boarding house, but ultimately served as Beard’s primary caretaker.
“When Beard was sick, Jue Let cooked for him and looked after him, and he was the one who introduced Beard to a real working kitchen,” Dobbertin says. “He became this father figure presence during a time when Beard’s own father was pretty absent.”
Homages to both men appear throughout the bar. There’s a Mint Jue Let on the cocktail menu (a cheeky nod to a mint julep). John Birdsall’s biography The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard decorates the shelf of an upstairs karaoke room. While the name honors two men, the shape behind Jue Let is largely drawn by women.
Paola Miano
Paola Miano
Jue Let’s disco chicken foot. Paola Miano
Much of the artwork reflects Datchuk’s signature style, with warm pieces that make spaces feel intimate and lived-in. It’s the same approach that shaped Best Quality Daughter, with nods to Dobbertin’s “third culture” background — Chinese heritage, time spent abroad in Thailand, and Texas roots. That disco chicken foot, however, comes from San Diego artist Lina Shamoon, whose shark- and horse-shaped disco balls already hang in downtown San Antonio bars Pink Shark and Howdy Sore Loser.
Forsyth, who created Best Quality Daughter’s drinks menu, is also at the helm of Jue Let’s cocktails which are a mix of zero-proof drinks and boozy pours like the Divine Intervention, which comes with a small surprise meant to be enjoyed alongside the bar’s divination machine. The menu spans several tea-forward drinks, martinis, an aromatic gin-and–pine needle cocktail called the Mythical Beast, and the Taipei Personality, the revival of a favorite from Best Quality Daughter with scotch, schoenauer Appel, chrysanthemum syrup, and lemon juice. “She’s a keeper,” Forsyth says. “She’s a forever cocktail now.”
The process is collaborative, but loose. Forsyth develops freely while Dobbertin occasionally sends inspiration from bars she visits in other cities. Dobbertin names most of the cocktails — keeping a list of more than a hundred potentials, often sparked by an offhand comment or joke. “Most places want more control over the menu itself, but not the naming,” Forsyth says.
Paola Miano
John-Paul Garrigues
Paola Miano
Jue Let’s chef de cuisine Alan Dale Nelson used to work with Dobbertin years ago, and they reconnected when she stopped by his former workplace, Rebelle, craving its signature crab legs. The dish was 86’ed that night, “but I told her I’d find a way to get her some,” he says, it was Dobbertin’s birthday after all. That reunion eventually led him to take over as chef de cuisine at both Jue Let and Best Quality Daughter.
The goal is to create food that reflects what Dobbertin considers the spirit of Jue Let. “Somewhere in between a dive bar and a cocktail lounge,” Nelson says. He’s particularly excited for guests to try the baozone, a dish that took months of research and development to get right. There’s also a Crab Louie onigiri on, a nod to one of James Beard’s favorite salads.
It would only be right, for a bar that leans into irreverence and restaurant culture to have an entire section of its drinks menu dedicated to service-industry vets. Under the banner “For the Pals,” everything is just $8, including a playful subsection of “Shift Erasers” with names like “Crying in the Walk-In” and “I Need an Adult.”
During Jue Let’s preview night, Dobbertin recalls people fully embracing what she’s trying to convey. One guest called it “the most beautiful bar” they’d ever seen, and she heard others buzzing over the karaoke rooms. “Our main goal above all else was to create a fun bar,” Dobbertin says. “I think the world needs more fun these days.”
Paola Miano