Ruddy Wang's family first took over the 236 Castro St. space in the 1990s to open Chef Liu, with Mervyn's Lounge continuing independently in the back. Chef Liu closed in 2014 and the Wang family took over Mervyn's Lounge.
Last year, the family then opened J Love Burger in the front of the space, serving up ramen burgers and other Japanese-style food.
The Wangs also own a small string of Bay Area milk-tea shops called Teaspoon, with locations in Los Altos, San Jose, Milpitas and San Francisco. They recently decided to add the drinks to the J Love/Mervyn's space as a "pop-up" to build the shop's branding, Ruddy said.
Teaspoon's menu is typical of most milk-tea options in the area, with a huge range of teas, flavors and add-ins. The tea is brewed fresh and to order with a special espresso-like machine and then mixed with your choice of flavors, toppings, customized sweetness level and milk.
Teaspoon also serves shaved snow, a Taiwanese frozen dessert made from shaved layers of frozen ice blended with various ingredients to create flavors like mango, taro, coconut, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry or avocado.
