Restaurateur Francis Miranda and “Top Chef” winner Mei Lin recently opened 88 Club in Beverly Hills, Calif.
The restaurant was designed by local firm Preen and features 44 seats in the dining room and five more at the bar. There’s also a private dining area overlooking the main floor.
The space is dim and moody, with dark woods, plush seating, and marble accents, and it merges contemporary design with vintage Chinese influences. Jade details appear throughout the dining room and pay tribute to the stone’s cultural significance in Chinese tradition, symbolizing protection, prosperity, and longevity. (The number eight is also associated with wealth and good fortune in Chinese culture, hence 88 Club.)
Tables and banquettes are joined by a round, central booth that features a lazy Susan to accommodate the restaurant’s shareable, family-style menu.
The menu begins with cold and hot dishes, including mung bean jelly noodles, a cucumber and wood ear mushroom salad, and sesame prawn toast with hot mustard aïoli. A section of dumplings, noodles, and rice features dishes like prawn and bamboo wontons and a rotating vegetarian fried rice that highlights seasonal market produce.
The restaurant seats 44 people in the dining room and five at the bar. Photo credit: Marcus Meisler
Mains include kung pao scallops, mapo tofu, sweet and sour squirrelfish, and nam yu (fermented red bean curd) roasted chicken with ginger scallion oil and aromatic soy sauce, a dish based on one of Lin’s childhood favorites.
The menu is rounded out by vegetable dishes such as charred hot-and-sour cabbage, stir-fried bok choy, and a few desserts, like jasmine milk tea buns and ginger ice cream with crystallized ginger and an almond cookie.
Miranda and Lin are also partners on Daybird, the popular Szechuan fried chicken spot in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood, and they collaborated on Nightshade, the restaurant that opened in 2019 to early acclaim but was forced to close a little more than a year later because of the pandemic.
Miranda also operates Lock & Key and Trophies Burger Club, also in L.A.
Entrées include nam yu roasted chicken (pictured) and kung pao scallops. Photo credit: Marcus Meisler
A spokesperson for 88 Club noted that the menu finds inspiration from all over China and is not specific to any region. And while fans of now-closed Nightshade will find some similarities among the flavors and techniques at 88 Club, no exact dishes were pulled from the Nightshade menu.
Sommelier and general manager Diana Lee — formerly of Gwen and Intercrew, both in L.A. — leads the beverage program, and Camelia’s head bartender Kevin Nguyen consulted on the cocktails. The drinks menu features a selection of French and global wines, prioritizing small, sustainable producers, and cocktails put a twist on the classics. The Martini, for example, is brightened up with pickled mustard greens, and the Old Fashioned is made with Scotch, Batavia arrack (a type of Indonesian rum), pandan, coconut liqueur, and mole bitters.
Over the past couple years, Mei Lin has been highly visible, competing on Food Network shows like “Tournament of Champions” and “Bobby’s Triple Threat,” and hosting the digital series, “The Lunar New Year Menu.” Now she’s back at the helm of a fine-dining project, her first since Nightshade. She describes 88 Club as a very personal expression of her voice and rooted in the Chinese flavors she grew up with.
