You’ve probably heard of James Beard, the so-called “Dean of American Cookery” who shaped our country’s cuisine as we now know it and lends his name to the restaurant industry’s most coveted awards. You’re less likely to be familiar with Jue Let, the Chinese immigrant who cooked for and helped raise Beard during his childhood. Let is also the inspiration for a new bar that bears his name in San Antonio.
Jue Let comes from Jennifer Hwa Dobbertin, the James Beard Award-semifinalist chef also behind Best Quality Daughter, and beverage director Lis Forsythe. The pair have collaborated on various projects going back to 2014 and had plenty of time to dream up an inventive menu for this latest endeavor — they started exchanging ideas and inspiration months before opening, prior to even beginning construction on the space.
The bar is a high-low concept with Champagne and caviar service alongside $5 beers and Chex Mix. Its two private karaoke rooms have been booked up since opening in November 2025, and lines run out the door on weekends despite the 150-person capacity. The vibe conjures up a fancy cocktail party reuniting Beard and Let but also welcomes industry types decompressing from a shift (with an affordable “shift eraser” section to boot). The cocktail menu at the high-volume spot features approachable drinks with inventive flavor combinations, exciting ingredients, and jokey names, the most out-there of which might be the ‘Soup For My Family,’ a clam chowder-inspired Martini.
“I’ve always done weird, food-inspired cocktails,” Forsythe says. This one came from an exchange with Dobbertin about the duo’s shared love of savory cocktails. “These shoot-for-the-moon conversations and inspo sharing we were doing weren’t something she was trying to get me to emulate,” Forsythe realized of her back-and-forth with Dobbertin. “It was more like this unspoken permission to do awesome things. … You can be brave, but also smart.”
Credit: Marla Segura
It may have been a joke when Dobbertin first mentioned a clam chowder Martini, but Forsythe took it and ran with it. “It was almost a dare, and I kind of felt like putting it on the menu was part of the dare,” Forsythe continues. She wasn’t sure if only a few cocktail nerds would get it, want it, or even understand the name. Would it all be too much?
The only way to find out was to make it. “I started out really overthinking it,” she explains. “I tried all these different, elegant ways to deconstruct it and make it as serious of a cocktail as I could manage.” After six iterations that missed the mark, she tried something a little crazy. “It’s just the silliest, laziest way — it’s literally just condensed clam chowder from a can,” she says.
No, they don’t pour Campbell’s and gin into a glass, but rather use the condensed soup for fat washing the base spirits. It makes sense when you think about it. “The condensed soup has the liquid cooked out of it and that gelatinous texture that will fat wash, so I’m able to get the flavor and the level of clarification that I want,” Forsythe explains.
To make the drink, Forsythe uses an equal blend of Monopolowa Dry Gin and Luksusowa Vodka, both made with potatoes. After fat washing the mix with the canned soup, it’s combined with Dolin Dry Vermouth that she’s infused with black peppercorn, chive, and bay leaf plus a dash of MSG. “It’s got that creamy texture,” she says, “but it’s cloudy like a Dirty Martini. The texture isn’t grainy, it’s very smooth and silky and it’s got a creaminess to it.”
All the Martinis at Jue Let are served with a sidecar in a hand-blown, local-artist-made bowl. This one also comes with a garnish plate featuring a steamed clam in the shell, a pickled potato, and piece of crispy prosciutto to nibble on, but you’ll get the full clam chowder flavor with just a sip.
The reception has been a positive surprise for Forsythe. “People keep sharing it on social media, which is fun,” she says. “I thought only a few chronically online, subversive types would be enthusiastic about it, but it’s been widely accepted and enjoyed.” The team’s fear that it would be sent back for being too weird turns out to have been unfounded.
As far as the cozy vibes, “soup season is a state of mind here,” Forsythe says. It’s still an ice-cold Martini, but “it drinks more sophisticated than I would have anticipated judging by the methodology,” she adds. The bar is for everyone, but the Soup for My Family is for Dirty Martini lovers all year round.
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