Moody Soju Cocktails and Dim Sum Reign at Oakland's Neon-Lit Mahjong Den
Just as mahjong reaches new TikTok-fueled heights, an Oakland bar and restaurant swoops in to make good on the legendary pastime. The new 13 Orphans opened Friday, May 30, in downtown Oakland, just upstairs from Baba's House. Jenn Lui, Alan Chen, and Eman Garcia own the entire building now, including the first-floor restaurant space and this second-story newcomer. The Asian American-centered mahjong clubhouse provides tea-infused cocktails — and 'tea-tails' (alcohol optional) — with Filipino and Chinese dim sum-inspired bites and bookable tables for laying down tiles through the late night.
At 13 Orphans, Lui handles the drinks while Garcia runs the kitchen. Lui found inspiration in the five elements of traditional Chinese culture; to honor the earth, a 2014 Shu pu'erh tea mingles with lapsang souchong tepache, cinnamon, beetroot juice, black sugar, and pear-infused soju for the Pu'er Petrichor. The watermelon tonic, nodding towards metal, blends a Gongmei white tea with goji-infused soju and pei pa lo, a Chinese herbal cough suppressant. Lui worked with Hatching Dragon and Teaphile, a source and an importer of Chinese teas to the Bay Area.
Garcia walked through a variety of inspirations for the small bites-focused menu. The Chinoy siu mai is a pork belly, prawn, water chestnut, and smoked trout roe play on the classic dim sum dish popular for Chinese and Filipino diners alike. Plates are just a few bites-worth, sort of the opposite size and scope of the kamayan meals he's prepared with his friends and family for Baba's House events since its debut over three years ago. The first floor, previously BHK, is now exclusively Baba's House. The food and drink menus for that project are still forthcoming.
Getting a table at 13 Orphans aims to be difficult: Groups book a game table for just 45 minutes. There are just 16 seats at the reservation-only space. The name 13 Orphans is a nod to an obscure hand to draw in mahjong, a game Lui points out is essentially gambling. Throughout the years at Baba's House, mahjong nights were booked out over and over. The comedy nights and live music were well-attended, too, sure. But mahjong just kept doing numbers. They've hosted free classes for more than three years now.
Lui, at least, says she feels the game is reaching a fever pitch due to a generational passing of the torch through immigrant communities to the digital natives, the same that are eschewing binge drinking and clubbing more than their predecessors. 'Once we took over the restaurant, we were trying to identify who we are,' Lui says. 'The personality forming within our community.'
Baba's House itself sprang from Lui's mind. The hope was to honor her dad, who died in 2020, and Chen and Garcia joined her on her quest to build community and feed their friends. Chen points out that all three co-owners claim Chinese ancestry, though only Lui is fully Cantonese (Chen is half-Taiwanese, and Garcia is Filipino, as well). Now, this project is meant to give the three founders a chance to move their intentions into an even more specific, upscale project. 'With Baba's House, we did what we thought was going to make our community happy and grow our community,' Garcia says. 'Now with 13 Orphans, we can be intentional and deliberate about what we want to do, and we've built up a community that trusts us [to do that].'
13 Orphans (410 15th Street, Oakland) is available for reservation and open 6 to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
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