San Antonio Asian-American Pop-Up to Turn Into Full-Fledged Restaurant Next Year

San Antonio chefs Quealy Watson and Jennifer Dobbertin and ceramics artist Jennifer Ling Datchuk are turning their Asian-American pop-up Best Quality Daughter into a full-fledged restaurant next year. The restaurant will open in the first half of 2020, though the location has not been revealed.

Best Quality Daughter focuses on Asian-American dishes, ones that Dobbertin grew up with in San Antonio with some inspiration drawn from her time abroad in Taipei. That means dishes like breakfast taco steam buns, oolong tea smoked prime rib, and shumai made with smoked brisket fat.

Datchuk and Dobbertin first got the idea for the restaurant in 2012. They hosted their first pop-up, a Chinese New Year celebration with collaboration with Chef Anne Ng of Bakery Lorraine, in 2018.

Watson and Dobberton met at neighborhood bar The Monterey (now shuttered) and Asian spot Hot Joy, which Bon Appetit named a best new restaurant in 2014. They left in 2016 (shortly before Hot Joy opened a Dallas location that only lasted for three months) to open Tenko Ramen together. They held a recent pop-up over the weekend at a defunct laundromat.

In terms of design for Best Quality Daughter, Datchuk is developing a “retro dim sum canteen feel,” per a press release. The restaurant will have a full bar.

• Best Quality Daughter [Official]
• Best Quality Daughter [Instagram]