{"id":155117,"date":"2026-02-07T15:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T15:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/155117\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T15:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T15:33:09","slug":"new-luxury-downtown-hotel-to-feature-3-dining-destinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/155117\/","title":{"rendered":"New luxury downtown hotel to feature 3 dining destinations"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than two years after breaking ground on South Alamo Street, The Monarch San Antonio<\/a> will open March 3 in HemisFair Park Historic District<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two of the luxury hotel\u2019s three dining destinations are taking reservations now.<\/p>\n

Korean-born chef Jae H. Lee<\/a> brings extensive New York kitchen experience to the hotel\u2019s food and beverage operations. His resume includes stints at Michelin-starred Daniel<\/a>, L\u2019Avenue at Saks <\/a>and the since-closed Dining Room at The Met.<\/p>\n

Lee moved to Texas in 2019 and worked in Austin and Dallas kitchens before taking the position at The Monarch, a member of the Curio Collection by Hilton.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Executive Chef Jae H. Lee of The Monarch San Antonio. Credit: Courtesy \/ The Monarch San Antonio<\/p>\n

On the ground floor of the 200-bedroom hotel, Oak & Amber will serve as the signature restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u201cOak & Amber is meant to be an upscale modern interpretation of a steakhouse,\u201d Lee said. \u201cIts got high ceilings, arches, a soft and warm color palette, a beautiful display kitchen. We\u2019ll showcase premium seafood, premium cuts of beef and an amazing prime rib program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seventeen stories up, Aleteo will offer Yucat\u00e1n cuisine, mezcal-focused cocktails and a rooftop view of downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cAleteo spans the entire upper deck of the hotel,\u201d Lee said. \u201cIt has an amazing view of the Tower of the Americas and a full food-service menu.\u201d<\/p>\n

Featured dishes include octopus maya, beef rib mole, suckling pig lechon asado and dry-aged Crescent Farms duck.<\/p>\n

For lighter fare, the Nectarie Caf\u00e9 will serve French bistro-style food for breakfast and lunch near the lobby.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a French pastry chef who makes everything from scratch,\u201d Lee said. \u201cAll bread products in the hotel will be produced in house.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Lobby Bar, an extension of Oak & Amber, will feature crafted cocktails and a curated raw bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will have Happy Hour caviar service at approachable price points,\u201d Lee said. \u201cAnd the bar will have an enormous selection of wines. Over 300 labels.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"A rendering shows a look at Oak & Amber, the signature restaurant of The Monarch San Antonio. Credit: Courtesy \/ The Monarch San Antonio<\/p>\n

Lee spent his first eight years in Seoul, South Korea before moving with his family to New York. They settled in Jamaica, Queens.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He began his culinary career in the East Village. Over the years, he worked with a number of renowned chefs, including Andrew Carmellini<\/a>, winner of multiple James Beard Awards, and Daniel Boulod<\/a>, whose restaurants have won multiple Michelin stars.<\/p>\n

Before moving to San Antonio, Lee worked at the Joule Hotel<\/a> in Dallas. While there, an interviewer asked what Texas does better than New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cBarbecue, Tex-Mex and tacos!\u201d<\/a> Lee said. \u201cWhile New York City goes a great job, Texas takes these things to the next level and makes them widely accessible. Generally speaking, what we classify as Southern cuisine, Texas does a better job of executing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Monarch opens in one month. How does he feel?<\/p>\n

\u201cVery excited,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re in the middle of receiving all our products. We have 60-some odd trucks scheduled this week to bring in equipment and furniture. The food will start coming in the next week.<\/p>\n

Reservations for Oak & Amber can be made here<\/a> and for Aleteo here<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than two years after breaking ground on South Alamo Street, The Monarch San Antonio will open March…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64039,64040,64041,62888,82,84,83,31175],"class_list":["post-155117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-andrew-carmellini","tag-daniel-boulod","tag-hemisfair-park-historic-district","tag-jae-h-lee","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-the-monarch-san-antonio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}