San Francisco Chronicle (Sunday)
Mister Jiu’s sequel Moongate Lounge rises in Chinatown
The expansive bar and lounge upstairs from Mister Jiu’s, named Moongate Lounge, is now open in San Francisco’s Chinatown, serving up an entirely different food and drink menu from the celebrated downstairs restaurant.
As at Mister Jiu’s, chef-owner Brandon Jew has created a beautiful space that overlooks Grant Avenue, while masterfully blending past and present — especially if you know where to look.
Moongate Lounge is located in the former banquet space of predecessor Four Seas, a massive, high-ceilinged room that mirrors the 5,000-square-foot footprint downstairs.
For Jew, the goal was to create the same sense of wonder and awe one did walking into the old banquet space. “The thing I always loved about the entrance is you open (the double doors) and there’s this huge open space,” Jew says. “How do we get that same feeling?”
There are teases to the past throughout the space — those who remember the lounge area of Empress of China will catch some similar midcentury vibes — and just like on the floor below, the old “Four Seas” sign remains visible from the eastern windows.
The design team (led by Jew’s partner Anna Lee and Steph Wong-Swig Architects) interpreted the theme of moon gates — a circular passageway in traditional Chinese architecture — in several ways. Though an early idea was to have a series of moon gates almost like Russian dolls, in the end, there is just one such feature positioned at the window, framing the downtown view.
Other nods to moon gates are more subtle, such as the skylight in the middle of the room that crescendos into a Pantheon-esque oculus, and arcs framing the bar.
The drink menus are also inspired by lunar themes. Cocktails are divided in two: There are house cocktails named after moons — like the Kerberos (gin, green chartreuse, salted kiwi, celery, pink peppercorn, $15) and the Io (mezcal, Montenegro, black garlic, cherry, flamed nine spice, $15). And there is a seasonal menu based around the lunar calendar, with current offerings including the Awakening of Insects (pisco, coffee, grand poppy, mint, hazelnut milk, $15) and the Vernal Equinox (gin, bitter melon, sweet and sour, jasmine, $15). The wine list is all-natural; see Esther Mobley’s accompanying profile on wine director Louisa Smith.
On the food side, Jew and his crew have created a concise lounge menu of smaller bites ($6-$15), with a similar Chinese American voice as Mister Jiu’s, such as takes on classics like crab rangoon, char siu buns, bakkwa, and saltand-pepper squid. The only large plate is another callback to the space’s former incarnation: the Four Seas banquet chicken (half chicken, $20).
Then there’s the last nod to the past. During the evening hours, when the “moon gates” are lit up and Instagrammable cocktails are flowing, it may be