His long-anticipated restaurant is still under construction, but chef Ming Pu has been finding creative ways to stay active.
That included a January trip to New York City, where Pu and his wife and business partner, Courtney, previewed TANA through pop-ups at Wenwen and Win Son, two well-known Taiwanese restaurants in Brooklyn.
The trip brought back memories, including a 2019 visit when Pu cooked at the James Beard House.
“One night, after dinner at Win Son Brooklyn, we walked out talking about what our own place could be, something rooted in Ming’s Taiwanese childhood, but shaped by the restaurants and hospitality we’ve experienced together,” read a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page. “That conversation eventually became TANA.”
As TANA moves closer to opening at 983 Goss Ave., formerly home to Redbud Dining Room and Eiderdown, Pu has also been refining dishes by sharing samples with his parents, Mei and Cheng, in Jeffersontown. Pu was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and moved to Louisville with his family in 1999.
“My parents have been my critics, especially with the more traditional stuff,” Pu said. “I know they’ve eaten that stuff their whole life, so if they approve of it, it’s solid.”
He has also shared samples with friends and trusted taste-testers around Louisville. Over the past year, Pu estimates he has made 10,000 soup dumplings to perfect his technique.
Chef Ming Pu previously served as culinary director at Brand Hospitality, the group behind southern Indiana restaurants such as Brooklyn and the Butcher and The Exchange.
After years working in Louisville’s food scene at places like The Brown Hotel, Jack Fry’s, and The Village Anchor, Pu hopes to introduce something uniquely his own with TANA—an upscale blend of New American and Taiwanese cuisine.
“For me, I’ve been cooking in Louisville for so long and Taiwanese has never really been popular around here,” he said. “So I think it’s a good opportunity.”
Building that vision has taken time.
During a construction tour on March 10, Pu said the project expanded from 3,600 to 5,300 square feet. Crews demolished a neighboring house that had been vacant for more than a decade and encountered structural issues along the way.
“We’ve been delayed for almost two years,” he said. “Now that I actually see the light, I feel good about where we are.”
The restaurant will feature an outdoor side patio, a U-shaped bar, an open kitchen, a dining room with about 70 seats, and a private dining area, all designed with dark wood tones and hunter green accents. A parking lot is also under construction, along with apartments on the second floor of the recognizable brick building near Hauck’s Corner and Franny’s Seafood.
“We’re trying to give it a facelift and still have its original intention,” Pu said. “We’re trying to maintain the integrity of the original structure as well as we can.”
While the opening timeline is still uncertain and moving toward early summer, Pu said the menu is becoming more defined. One standout dish combines two of his childhood favorites: Taiwanese beef noodle soup and soup dumplings.
“The idea was simple,” Pu wrote on Facebook. “What if they were the same dish?”
Pu described the dish, which took about seven months to develop, this way: “The dumplings are filled with long-braised beef shank and beef noodle broth that’s set into aspic, so it melts back into soup when steamed. You bite into it like a xiao long bao, but it tastes like a full bowl of beef noodle soup. Then it’s finished with hot broth, tendon and bone marrow from the braise, pickled mustard greens, cilantro, and scallions so it stays rich but balanced.”
The menu will also feature a variety of dumplings, including charred ramp shrimp, Mapo Tofu Cavatelli, Taiwanese fried chicken, and eventually a full dim sum service a few months after opening.
For now, Pu continues preparing for TANA, a concept he developed before the COVID-19 pandemic. While he is eager to open, he does not want to rush the process to meet major deadlines like the Kentucky Derby.
“We’re definitely not going to be open by Derby,” he said. “I don’t want to fight against that deadline.”
Pu said he is willing to wait a bit longer, knowing things will quickly become busy once the restaurant opens.
“For me,” Pu said, “it’s about to be game on.”
Leave a Comment