Dead Letter No. 9 teams up with Chef Braulio Hernandez’s Esquina Bao Bun for a summer pop-up

Dead Letter No. 9 (63 Grand St.) opened last year as an entertainment salon, bar and event space by Brooklyn restaurant owners 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 group of founders was no match for the city’s bureaucracy, and after just two months, Dead Letter No. 9 was forced to close for building maintenance. But the closure didn’t last long. Last March, the space reopened with a new, revamped program.

This month, Dead Letter No. 9 is turning again. The space has always offered a full bar with refreshing and inventive cocktails, but Cohen said Green dots he knew that “a food option was needed.”

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 combines 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 this time, an extraordinary blend of cultures and flavors was developed in Mexicali.

Chef Hernandez’s menu features street food 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 beverages that use a creative blend of Mexican and Chinese flavors. There’s the Dragon 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 have known Braulio for several years and he was looking for a place to try out this concept,” said Cohen Green dotsand added that the collaboration seemed to be a “good fit” for Dead Letter No. 9.

Cohen said the collaboration with Esquina Bao Bun is a summer pop-up, but “if it works for everyone, we see no reason to change anything.”

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