Lucky Cat Lounge

The Lucky Cat Lounge is the private dining room at Ace Eat Serve, the Asian restaurant and ping pong hall in Denver's Uptown neighborhood. It was a small but mighty project. We refreshed the room so it could be a dining room, a lounge, or a game room for mah jongg nights.

The inspiration was walking the streets of different Asian cities. For the walls, we wheat pasted Asian newspapers and layered ripped Chinese cherry blossom wallpaper over them. That gives the perimeter a ton of depth and excitement, and it makes the walls look like they have a history behind them, a rags to riches kind of story.

We skipped the typical red Chinese lanterns. Instead we found pendants that look like the lanterns hung in Thailand during Loy Krathong, its festival of lights. They add a floaty lightness under the vaulted ceiling and bring it down at the same time, so the room feels cozy.

Neon gives it that back alley in Asia energy. One sign honors the Lucky Cat Lounge, and other symbols of good luck glow around it, including 幸运的, Chinese for "lucky," across the black brick.

Last, we worked out a very flexible layout. The same room handles lounge seating, overflow seating for the restaurant and private dinners.