Lei Flat: A 400-Sq-Ft Private Dining Room Above Chinatown's James Beard Winner

A 400-sq-ft former apartment above Lei, the 28-seat James Beard Award-winning wine bar in New York's Chinatown, has reopened as Lei Flat — a speakeasy-style private dining room bookable through Lei's website.

Owner Annie Shi built the space to solve a capacity problem. Lei opened in June last year and quickly earned a James Beard Award, but its small footprint limited long dinners and larger parties. 'We wanted to have a space that could open the experience for longer dinners and bigger parties,' Shi said. Lei Flat is designed for 'an evening unconcerned by the time constraint of other reservations.'

What does the design change for guests?

Shi hired her longtime friend Rachel Vineberg-Jones of Vine Projects, who also designed the main bar, to overhaul a second-floor unit in the same building at 15-17 Doyers St. The unit's history shaped the concept: it previously served as a social club where mahjong was a common pastime.

'We didn't envision a hospitality interior,' Vineberg-Jones said. 'Instead, we created a dining room scaled for close conversation and enrobed in deeper hues that encourage you to lean in at the table.'

Guests enter through a ground-level door, climb a quirky stairwell and find a residential-looking unit labeled 2A. A grey, timeworn door opens into the moody interior — 'where old and new rub together in a combination that is quintessentially New York,' Vineberg-Jones said.

What materials and artwork define the room?

The palette is specific and warm:

• Walls in deep plum (Poe by Portola Paints) with a Roman clay finish (a lime-based plaster texture)
• Dark sapele wood wainscotting
• An off-white ceiling
• Burgundy candle sconces and soft spotlights

'We channeled the spirit of decadent garments, hot pavement and chance encounters reminiscent of [filmmaker] Wong Kar-wai's Hong Kong,' Vineberg-Jones added of the atmosphere.

Several details anchor the room in its Chinatown location. A wall-mounted Guanyin altar left by the previous owner remains, respectfully rearranged. Contemporary art from New York-based creatives with Chinese roots includes a large painting by Xiangjie Rebecca Wu and a print by Dominique Fung.

How does booking work?

Two custom rectangular dining tables push together or separate to fit the occasion: a seated dinner for eight people or a standing party for 12. Every booking comes with a Lei sommelier and cook, who work from a small open kitchen finished in green tile and stainless steel cabinetry with octopus tentacle handles. A shiny black-tiled powder room completes the unit.

The format gives Lei a second revenue stream without expanding its ground-floor footprint — and gives Chinatown a new template for adapting the neighborhood's aging upper-floor apartments into hospitality spaces.