Nine Bar + Moon Palace Express

Moon Palace has been a fixture in Chicago’s Chinatown for more than 50 years.  But the next generation of this family-owned business reimagined it as a takeout counter in the front, cocktail bar in the back. 

We asked co-owners Lily and Joe to put together a soundtrack of what they might play at the bar.  Their picks - Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bowie, Iggy Pop, the Clash - inspired design details like black ceramic tile, corrugated metal walls, vintage-style linoleum flooring, chain curtains, chrome and black bar stools, a faux snakeskin DJ bar, steel light fixtures, custom planters and original exposed Chicago brick (fortuitously discovered during demolition behind the drywall of the former Moon Palace dining room). 

​Photos by Marisa Klug-Morataya