The first thing one notices at San Antonio’s Jue Let, chef Jennifer Hwa Dobbertin’s new bar at 2107 Emma Koehler in the Pearl, is that it’s breathtakingly beautiful. When it opens on November 22, guests will be greeted with brocade-lined ceilings, Murano-inspired lighting, and more mirrors than the private suites at Studio 54.
Still, despite all the gloss, the charms of Jue Let aren’t on the surface.
The bar borrows its name from Jue Let, the little-known Chinese cook who helped raise James Beard, the “Dean of American Cookery.” Although filled with champagne-bubble fun, it tells a deeper story about who gets to tell the story of the nation’s cuisine.
“I wanted to celebrate the hidden labor behind so much of what we think of as American cooking,” explains Dobbertin in a statement. “Jue Let was the cook who introduced James Beard to food, and that legacy ripples through everything that followed.”
As with Dobbertin’s other Pearl stunner, Best Quality Daughter, Jue Let draws from a “third-culture” perspective, blending the chef’s Chinese heritage, Thailand travels, and Texan roots. Every detail is intentional, from the fusion bar snacks to the whimsical decor.
Jue Let’s cocktails weave a cultural web.Photo courtesy of Jue Let.
“Our intention at Jue Let is about weaving cultural references into the experience in ways that just feel playful — whether that’s our custom chicken-foot disco ball to dishes like the crab Louie onigiri,” she says. “We’re not trying to recreate anything literally, but rather using these elements to build a story that feels familiar but also fun.”
The world-building begins with the cocktails. The beverage program was built by longtime collaborator and Best Quality Daughter beverage director Lis Forsythe, one of San Antonio’s most innovative bar pros. Each drink acts as a potable memoir, or maybe a clever autofiction.
The Mint Jue Let could scandalize the Kentucky Derby with its mix of Bourbon, green tea shochu, coconut-green-tea syrup, jasmine essence, and mint. Soup for My Family takes its cues from clam chowder, using soup-washed spirits to create a briny sipper garnished with crispy pancetta and a pickled potato cube.
Still, we’ll guess the bestseller will be the sprightly Divine Intervention. Each cocktail comes with an I-Ching coin that guests can drop in the Cabinet of Changes, an interactive fortune-telling machine built in collaboration with Meow Wolf artist Alan Watts.
Another Alan, Best Quality Daughter Chef de Cuisine Alan Nelson, had a goof with the bar snacks. The offerings include crab Louie onigiri, Chinese tea eggs, a riff on Chex Mix, and reinterpretations of two latchkey kid standards — the Hot Pocket and the Taco Bell Crunchwrap.
Dobbertin describes the collaboration with Nelson, Forsythe, and operations director Daniel Perez as a creative reunion.
“Alan Nelson, Lis Forsythe, [Director of Operations] Daniel Perez, and I all worked together in some way over the past 10 years, and that shared history shows up in everything we do here through the sense of trust, creativity, and play,” says Dobbertin. “We are all rooted in genuine hospitality.”
The crab Louie onigiri has a playful nori wrap.Photo courtesy of Jue Let
But back to the interiors. Grace Boudewyns of Lake|Flato envisioned the 2,500-square-foot space as a series of vignettes. The two karaoke lounges are outfitted with amber glass block and finishes that throw “ugly” ‘70s design — off colors, rattan, and chrome — into a Prada-style blender. Custom art by Asian American artists Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Loc Huynh, and Sunny Wu deepens the narrative.
Then, there are the showstopping bathrooms, arranged around a central terrazzo sink and lined with more beveled mirrors. It might become San Antonio’s most coveted selfie spot.
One thing is for sure: the Jue Let name will no longer be a culinary footnote. The bar proclaims that personal stories don’t need fame to be grand.
“All my spaces have been rooted in memory. Jue Let is a tribute to the people, places, and small moments that shape who we are — even when their names get forgotten,” says Dobbertin.
Following the November 22 opening, Jue Let will be open from 4 pm-midnight, seven days a week. Reservations are not required.