Culinary expert James Beard has been heralded as one of the most important American men in food history. Later this year, a San Antonio cocktail bar will pay homage to a lesser-known icon in the food world — one who happened to shape Beard’s career.
Jennifer Hwa Dobbertin, the three-time James Beard Award semifinalist and chef-owner behind Asian-Texas restaurant Best Quality Daughter, is opening Jue Let later this year in Pearl, the historic multi-use brewery complex. This namesake bar will honor the Guangzhou-born Chinese chef who served as the Beard family’s private cook.
Dobbertin, who is Chinese-Taiwanese American, says she came up with the idea for the bar after being named a James Beard Award semifinalist in the Emerging Chef category in 2023. Dobbertin dug into Beard, the man behind the most prestigious awards. “The only thing I knew about it was what I saw among my peers in the restaurant industry — that mostly white male chefs that run fancy restaurants really want this award,” she says. “I assumed James Beard was a white male chef that ran fancy restaurants, but he was an incredibly dynamic man.”
Dobbertin says she was surprised to learn that Beard, who was born in 1903, had been so strongly influenced by Chinese figures in his household. Jue-Let, a Chinese immigrant and chef, served as Beard’s surrogate father and chef. Beard has credited him with shaping his career in food. “I also learned he had a Chinese nanny, grew up with another Chinese family, and was surrounded by Chinese culture during childhood,” Dobbertin says.
In some ways, Jue-Let’s story is reminiscent of that of Nathan “Nearest” Green, the first known African American distiller who helped shape the iconic Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Tennessee. His story was lesser known until entrepreneur Fawn Weaver teamed up with Green’s great-great-granddaughter and master distiller, Victoria Eady Butler, to launch Uncle Nearest, now one of the fastest-growing whiskey brands in the country, in his honor.
As much as Beard and Jue-Let’s story was intriguing, it was also sad, Dobbertin says. Jue-Let disappeared, possibly fled, in the early 1990s when Beard was still young — it was at the height of anti-Asian sentiments in the U.S. and the Chinese Exclusion Act, a law that banned and regulated Chinese immigration (the law was later repealed in 1943). “I wanted to give an homage to that and honor that,” she says.
The bar also includes nods to Beard, who was gay and closeted until his 80s and suffered from depression. Dobbertin says she’ll use both of their stories to inform the bar’s overall bar and ambiance, noting that Beard was known for his cocktail parties and canopies.
“I thought it’d be really fun to do a light interpretation of, what if James Beard could be his real self? What if Jue-Let was around, and they had cocktails?” Dobbertin says.
Dobbertin says the bar, which will be located in the former space of Blue Box Bar, will feel like a casual cocktail party every night. Architectural firm Lake Flato, who also worked on Best Quality Daughter, will also design the space, and Lis Forsythe, the mastermind behind Best Quality’s bar menu, will serve as beverage director. Though the bar won’t have a kitchen with a vent hood, Dobbertin says she plans to serve bar snacks and small plates, such as marinated vegetables, to complement the cocktails. “Everything will most likely have an Asian spin on it,” she says. Jue Let will also have private party rooms that will double as karaoke rooms.
Dobbertin, who was most recently named a semifinalist for the Beards’ Best Chef: Texas category, says they plan to break ground on the bar early this spring and open it at the end of this year.
The chef got her start with Hot Joy, an Asian fusion restaurant that she helped open in 2013. She went on to open Tenko Ramen, San Antonio’s first fast-casual ramen spot at Pearl in 2017, and Best Quality Daughter in 2020, which reflects Dobbertin’s roots as a Chinese-Taiwanese American raised and still living in Texas. Dobbertin will open another restaurant at Pearl soon but has not disclosed the concept yet.
2025-02-03T16:44:13Z