Until the summer of 2022, there had never been a dedicated cocktail bar in Chicago’s Chinatown. Drinks could be had, of course — a Blue Hawaiian over dim sum at MingHin Cuisine, a petite glass of soju to wash down Daebak Korean BBQ or rounds of Jager shots at No. 18 karaoke bar. But little existed to suit the vibey, low-lit American tradition of Meet me for a drink.

“Is it because no one thought of it?” Nine Bar co-owner and operating manager Lily Wang recalled wondering aloud. “Or maybe it didn’t exist because no one wanted it and it would never do well? That’s the side my parents were on.”

Her parents, notably, are Zhong Pei (“Jones”) and Jennifer Wang, the owners of the iconic Chinatown restaurant Moon Palace. Said doubts didn’t stop their daughter, a former bartender at Estereo, and co-owner/operating manager Joe Briglio, formerly of Blind Barber, from trying anyway.

In fact, the couple saw plenty of potential upside. Wang’s parents were considering stepping back from the business. Chinatown was flourishing, and plenty of residents and visitors might actually want a bar in the neighborhood, which would add another dimension to its destination status.

Eighteen months in, their bet to write a new chapter for Moon Palace’s legacy appears to be about to pay off.

A speakeasy in a takeout joint

Nine Bar announces itself with a small exterior neon sign with Chinese characters. Walk inside, and just to the right of the small carryout counter at Moon Palace Express you’ll see a security-guarded door. The space used to house a formal dining room with recessed lighting, Chinese lanterns and cherry wood accents. Now incense wafts lazily through a moody, neon-lit speakeasy featuring a long bar, low banquettes and stools, and pulsating French pop and modern hip hop.

Manager Roque De Leon, who’s worked here almost since the bar opened, pours my husband and me an ice-blue, clarified coconut milk punch and a spicy passion fruit margarita infused with numbing Sichuan peppercorns. He asks what other spots we plan to hit up while we’re in the neighborhood.

“When I heard about what Lily was doing, reimagining this place as a bar and continuing her parents’ legacy, I just really wanted to be part of it,” said De Leon, a former server at HaiSous and Trivoli Tavern. De Leon’s family owned a multigenerational Chinese restaurant called Carrie Lee’s Lake Garden in Pontiac, Mich., that has since closed.

We slurp Nine Bar chef Elvis Mom’s toothsome vegan dumplings bathed in chili oil and black vinegar and split a crunchy-edged “McKatsu” pork sandwich on a sesame bun slicked with sweet Bulldog Sauce and head-clearing Chinese mustard. Through the swinging kitchen doors, we spot Jones Wang himself helping prep carryout meals for Moon Palace and his namesake Jones chicken wings doused in sticky, sorta-General Tso’s sauce for Nine Bar.

“Dad’s technically retired, but he’s still there all the time,” Wang later said, drily.

The Wang family’s story for many years revolved around Moon Palace, but it took a sharp turn during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jones and Jennifer Wang immigrated to Chicago from Shanghai, China, in 1985. Ten years later, they took over Moon Palace — by then a 20-year neighborhood fixture — and moved it across the street to its current location. The family lived in Skokie then; so for Wang and her two older brothers, the restaurant represented not just their parents’ jobs, but the thing that kept them away from home 13 hours a day, almost seven days a week.

On weekends, Wang often spent whole days there doing homework and helping out. The rhythm of family life pulsed outward from Moon Palace — itself a community hub.

“I hear from so many people, like, ‘I’ve been coming here since it was across the street,’ or ‘I’ve been coming here since I was a kid,’ who are now in their 40s,” Wang said. “When Joe and I first met, I remember him telling me his family used to go there too, which I thought was really cool. It does feel like an anchor of the neighborhood.”

Bartending vets Wang and Briglio dreamt of opening a cocktail bar of their own for years, though not necessarily in Chinatown. On trips and when popping into other bars, the couple would mentally file away big and small inspirations for their future place.

In 2018 they threw a Lunar New Year party at Moon Palace, which drew a big enough crowd that they made it an annual tradition. The pair began laying the conceptual groundwork for their eventual bar: “cocktail-focused, interesting but approachable,” Briglio said, “a little darker and moodier, a bit of neon lights and some good music.”

The pandemic not only shelved that brick-and-mortar dream, but left both out of work — indefinitely. They created a pop-up series peddling Japanese sandwiches and bottled cocktails. They named it Nine Bar for the first character in the Chinese word for “bar,” which is pronounced the same as the number nine. And they spent more time with Wang’s parents, occasionally helping out at the restaurant, which remained open for carryout and delivery during the pandemic. Moon Palace fared better than expected and demanded less labor as to-go only, to Wang’s parents’ pleasant surprise.

This unexpected silver lining would help spark the conversation with her parents about their eventual goal of stepping back from the business — a topic family hadn’t formally discussed until then.

“I think it was their hope that myself or my brothers would take a role in keeping the restaurant,” added Wang, who’s 32. “That’s where this ‘kids of immigrants’ mindset comes in. I recognized all their hard work, but didn’t want to do that exact thing.”

A flourishing Chicago Chinatown

Moreover, Moon Palace was thriving, reflecting a broader trend in the neighborhood. While Chinatowns around the country face threat of extinction due to urban development, Chicago’s is flourishing, with Chinese American entrepreneurs radiating out miles from the ornate hub at Archer and Wentworth as businesses rebound from the pandemic and the area population grows.

Still, Wang and Briglio saw a need for a place to grab a drink and a snack before dinner, or finish the night with cocktails and a DJ set — and a unique chance to be the first ones to do it. Not wanting to erase the Moon Palace name and legacy, they split the space into two identities: a counter-service, carryout-only version of the Shanghai-leaning restaurant staple and the futuristic, Asian-ish cocktail bar, with help from Chicago-based designer Siren Betty. Wang’s parents were supportive, if slightly skeptical.

“We were trying to slot in there with this entirely different concept and experience,” Briglio said. “I felt, like, immensely grateful that we were being trusted with the future of the business. That also did come with a lot of pressure; we’re now in charge of someone’s entire working legacy. That’s not something to take lightly.”

Of course, not everyone’s happy with the arrival of the first cocktail bar, which has come amid other neighborhood changes, like out-of-town boba tea shops and fried chicken joints.

“There were some people that were upset that a bar was opening too,” Wang recalled, “even though we were doing it in a very authentic and intentional way. Sometimes it feels like a lose-lose. You’re never going to make everyone happy.”

Indeed, it took a few packed-to-the-gills weekends to convince Wang’s parents that the neighborhood was excited to have a new nightlife option. Just over a year in, the couple have only seen one older resident shaking a fist at the bar while walking by.

“It’s obviously hard not to take the criticism personally,” Briglio said. “But we have to remember everybody that walks through the door and has a good time and is glad we’re here.”

Wang jumped in: “It is hard, but honestly I wanted to be first,” she said. “As soon as Joe and I started getting this idea, I was like, ‘I want to be first.’ It’s a ton of pressure, but I’m glad we were. It feels good as a child of immigrants to be able to take over something that your parents have worked hard to build, but make it your own.”

Maggie Hennessy is a Chicago-based food and drink writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Bon Appetit and Food & Wine. Follow her on Instagram.

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If you go, these best-selling cocktails that capture the soul of Nine Bar:

Nine Bar Mai Tai. Inspired by the tiki bent taken on many Chinese American restaurant drink menus, Nine Bar’s house Mai Tai packs a punch with Barbados and aged Guyana rums, bittersweet persimmon liqueur and amaretto. “A lot of people said when my mom makes mai tais they know they’ll be good because she puts in a ton of booze,” Wang said. In another nod to Moon Palace, the cocktail derives its nutty sweetness from almond cookie orgeat (sweet almond syrup).

Paper Dragon. This spicy margarita blends blanco tequila, bitter gentian liqueur, bright citrus and sweet and sour passion fruit with the gentle, numbing heat of Sichuan peppercorns. “That’s a very Lily drink,” Wang said. “It has all the stuff I like in it.”

Paradise Lost. Aka the Joe drink, this clarified milk punch starts with Thai coconut milk, which is filtered manually till clear then stirred with grassy cachaça, mango cordial, pineapple, ube and amaro and poured over a single, fat ice cube. “It’s sweet and tropical without being overly sweet,” Briglio said. “It finishes dry and has a nice boozy note to it.”