Photo by ChingYao Wang
Growing up in Taiwan, Lucky Star chef and partner Jason Liang remembers attending celebratory feasts in tents along the side of the road, where specialty chefs prepared massive meals served family style to commemorate a wedding or birthday. Called Ban-Dou (pronounced bahn dough), these events are cultural experiences focused on togetherness. At Lucky Star, Liang—who also owns Michelin-starred O By Brush, Momonoki, Brush Sushi, Cuddlefish, and Momo Cafe—shares his roots with Atlantans. Now, he’s letting them in on the Ban-Dou celebrations, too.
Available Wednesday through Saturday with 24 hours notice and prepayment, Ban-Dou at Lucky Star features a set menu of 12 items ranging from traditional to street food to more modern takes. It costs $79 per person for groups of four with two additional diners invited for free. Offerings include ume tomato salad, garlic black pepper edamame, beef scallion pancakes, Murder Point oysters, three cup chicken, and Taiwanese spinach and yuba. There’s even a caviar bump to further the festive feeling.
Photo by ChingYao Wang
“I worked at a Ban-Dou restaurant early in my career in Taiwan,” Liang says. “Opening a Taiwanese restaurant has always been my goal and Ban-Dou just came to my mind to be an experience-driven offering.”
He’s most excited about the lobster club sandwich with ham, cucumbers, Japanese mayonnaise, tomatoes, and steamed lobster tail, flash fried and served warm. “It’s one of the iconic Taiwanese Ban-Dou dishes that you really only see during those celebration parties. I love it so much that I want to introduce it to people,” he says.
Desserts include pineapple cake ice cream and black sesame tang yuan mochi dumpling, prepared by pastry chef (and Liang’s wife) ChingYao Wang. “A typical dessert is cut-up fruit or ice cream cups. It’s something I looked forward to as a kid. It’s very personal to me,” Liang says.
Photo by ChingYao Wang
The regular cocktail menu is available with Ban-Dou. However, Lucky Star is finally launching its cocktail omakase—originally the premise of the concept. Currently available on Wednesday and Thursday evenings for two seatings of six guests each, the five-course, $85-per-person offering features five half-pour cocktails created by beverage consultant and sommelier Kirk Gibson paired with small bites by Liang. Guests start with a champagne syrup milk punch with an oyster in Taiwanese sauces, followed by a Caprese and tonic (tomato clarified mozzarella with a plum tomato skewer garnish with purple shizo). The final course consists of a clarified espresso martini with a mini cream croissant.
“It’s not a full meal but a decent amount of food, served at the bar only,” Liang explains. “We had the idea for the cocktail omakase back in the Brush Decatur time. That has been the plan for Lucky Star since the beginning. We get to have fun with it.”
