Jack Lu lives and breathes restaurants. “It’s the only thing I know,” he said.
Born in China, he opened his first restaurant in Japan when he was 21. Now, he owns nine Colorado restaurants — Juicy Seafood in Aurora in Longmont, Sachi Sushi in Broomfield, and four Kona Hawaiian BBQs — plus two Sapporo Japanese Steakhouses in Wyoming.
Last week, Lu and business partners Min and Aren Chen opened Nana’s Dim Sum & Dumplings, at 3316 Tejon St., in the restaurant-heavy Highland neighborhood. The address is the former home of The Fifth String, which moved to a smaller location in RiNo earlier this year.
“I opened my first Japanese restaurant in the U.S. in 2008 because I lived in Japan for six years,” Lu said. “But I’m Chinese, so it’s time to get back to my roots.”
Nana’s serves traditional Chinese dim sum menu items, like Shumai steamed dumplings, red 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 take on a Bourbon Smash.
“Most of the recipes are from my wife Kelly, an amazing chef, and it’s all handmade with love,” Lu said.
When Lu gets a good idea, he likes to see it through. So, the trio of business partners, along with some silent investors, are opening three more Nana’s locations across the Front Range.
In November, they’ll open a fast-casual version of Nana’s at 1125 13th St. in Boulder, and in December, Nana’s will join more than 100 restaurants and international markets with diverse cuisines on Aurora’s Havana Street with a dim sum and bao bun location at 2495 S. Havana St. Lu said he a fourth location make its debut in downtown Denver sometime next year.
“Each spot has a different demographic to enjoy our food: Aurora has more families, Boulder has college kids, and LoHi and Denver have younger working professionals,” said Jay Demarest, the general manager at Nana’s in LoHi’s. “Everyone loves dumplings, so we can’t go wrong.”
Nana’s is open from 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until midnight on Friday and Saturday and closes at 9 p.m. on Sunday.
