Dead Letter No. 9 (63 Grand St.) opened last year as a conversation parlor, bar, and event space from Brooklyn restaurateurs Josh Cohen of Lilia, Chez Ma Tante, and St. Vitus, and Mark Rancourt of Top Quality and Extra Fancy in collaboration with immersive theater company Roll the Bones.
The promising lineup of founders was no match for the city’s red tape, and after being open for only two months, Dead Letter No. 9 was forced to close for building maintenance. But it wasn’t closed for long. The space reopened this past March with new, reformatted programming.
This month, Dead Letter No. 9 pivots again. The space has always offered a full bar with refreshing and inventive cocktails, but Cohen told Greenpointers he knew it “was in need of a food option.”
Enter Esquina Bao Bun from Chef Braulio Hernandez of Cipriani and Morimoto fame. Chef Hernandez created a new food program for Dead Letter No.9 that blends Mexican and Chinese cuisine, taking inspiration from Mexicali, Mexico, where Chinese immigrants fled during the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 when they were banned from immigrating to the United States. During that time in Mexicali, an extraordinary blend of cultures and flavors were developed.
Chef Hernandez’s menu includes street food-style offerings like birria soup dumplings, al pastor bao buns, carne asada potstickers, spring roll chicken tinga flautas, shiitake and mole poblano bao buns, and sweet corn esquites. For dessert, there’s a chocolate spring roll and tequila paletas.
The menu also offers three non-alcoholic drinks that use a creative blend of Mexican and Chinese flavors. There’s the Dragon’s Milk with horchata and dragon fruit, the Oolong Lemonade with Oolong tea, lime, lemon, and agave, and the Flor de Jamaica with hibiscus tea and palm sugar.
“I’ve known Braulio for a few years, and he was looking for a space to try out this concept,” Cohen told Greenpointers, adding that the collaboration seemed like a “good fit” for Dead Letter No. 9.
Cohen said that the collaboration with Esquina Bao Bun is a summer pop-up, but “if it works for everyone, we see no reason to change.”