Annie Shi's Wine Bar Is Something Different

King's co-owner goes solo at Lei.

- BY MEGAN KRIGBAUM

SINCE OPENING King in 2016 with her partners, Jess Shadbolt and Clare de Boer, Annie Shi has also been looking to do something on her own. “This has been my dream,” she says. Shi grew up in Queens frequenting Flushing’s markets and restaurants, and she wanted to find a space in Manhattan's Chinatown. She jumped when a small storefront above a mahjong social club landed on the market, and she signed the lease in December a few days before her daughter was born. To get the signatures for her wine-and-beer license, she had her father, who was born in Shanghai, hit the streets and activate his friends. “Half of the signatures were from elderly residents,” Shi says.