Peking Tavern, a Handsome Downtown Basement Serving Beijing Street Eats and Craft Brews

For the last few evenings Peking Tavern has run out of food before 9 p.m. thanks to a special which ended last night that reduced the price of the restaurant's Beijing street food to $5 a plate. While the Chinese menu will evolve weekly, check out (after the jump) the very first look at Peking Tavern's current menu, on offer through Saturday until 10 p.m. Though it's worthwhile to note that the subterranean eatery stays open until midnight for imbibing.

A total of 18 taps are behind the bar, but only a portion of them are filled at the moment, spouting a mix of craft beer and cider. Cari Hah (The Varnish, Neat) is responsible for Peking Tavern's unique cocktail program, which calls for lesser known Chinese distillate baijiu and proprietary bitters made by local bitter crafter Miracle Mile Bitters Co. Co-owner Andrew Chiu says the select cocktails involving baijiu have been a big hit thus far.

Peking Tavern is the first restaurant opened and operated by Chiu and partner Andrew Wong. They're behind hospitality consulting and design firm El Guapo Group, and are responsible for the aesthetic at Fickle/The Sandwich Smith in Little Tokyo and are presently working on designing a resort in Bali.

At Peking Tavern they wanted to pay homage to the building's history while incorporating a taste of Beijing and Old Chinatown in a comfortable basement space. It's a restaurant meant to cater to the neighborhood, with an open layout and design conducive to socializing. Note the long bar flanked by communal tables.

In devising the menu here, the Andrews considered the dearth of good Chinese food in the downtown area and decided to take traditional Beijing street food and put it through the gastropub model. Et voila. Craft beer and small Chinese street food plates. This is not a chef-driven restaurant, though the main cook in the kitchen hails from the SGV.

Hours of operation are tentatively running from 6 p.m. to midnight (kitchen shuts down around 10 p.m.) with lunch to follow.
·All Peking Tavern Coverage [~ELA~]