Jack Lu lives and breathes eating places. “It’s the one factor I do know,” he stated.
Born in China, he opened his first restaurant in Japan when he was 21. Now, he owns 9 Colorado eating places — Juicy Seafood in Aurora in Longmont, Sachi Sushi in Broomfield, and 4 Kona Hawaiian BBQs — plus two Sapporo Japanese Steakhouses in Wyoming.
Final week, Lu and enterprise companions Min and Aren Chen opened Nana’s Dim Sum & Dumplings, at 3316 Tejon St., within the restaurant-heavy Highland neighborhood. The handle is the previous residence of The Fifth String, which moved to a smaller location in RiNo earlier this yr.
“I opened my first Japanese restaurant within the U.S. in 2008 as a result of I lived in Japan for six years,” Lu stated. “However I’m Chinese language, so it’s time to get again to my roots.”
Nana’s serves conventional Chinese language dim sum menu objects, like Shumai steamed dumplings, crimson chili wonton soup, and bao buns. For hungrier diners, there’s Peking duck, black truffle dumplings, beef noodle soup and beef and cheese dumplings. The LoHi location has a cocktail bar with spunky drinks like, a chili mango margarita and a Ninja Smash, a tackle a Bourbon Smash.
“A lot of the recipes are from my spouse Kelly, an incredible chef, and it’s all handmade with love,” Lu stated.
When Lu will get a good suggestion, he likes to see it by way of. So, the trio of enterprise companions, together with some silent buyers, are opening three extra Nana’s areas throughout the Entrance Vary.
In November, they’ll open a fast-casual model of Nana’s at 1125 thirteenth St. in Boulder, and in December, Nana’s will be part of more than 100 restaurants and international markets with numerous cuisines on Aurora’s Havana Road with a dim sum and bao bun location at 2495 S. Havana St. Lu stated he a fourth location make its debut in downtown Denver someday subsequent yr.
“Every spot has a special demographic to take pleasure in our meals: Aurora has extra households, Boulder has school youngsters, and LoHi and Denver have youthful working professionals,” stated Jay Demarest, the final supervisor at Nana’s in LoHi’s. “Everybody loves dumplings, so we will’t go fallacious.”
Nana’s is open from 4 to 10 p.m. Monday by way of Thursday, till midnight on Friday and Saturday and closes at 9 p.m. on Sunday.
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