The demo crew was hard at work Monday converting the former Red Lotus Spa & Bistro at 9737 Manchester (above) into the area’s second Lu Lu Asian Kitchen. The construction is expected to take two months.
That’s the easy part…explaining the recent additions to the slew of Lu Lu restaurants is not.
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We’ll attempt sum it up.
The flagship Lu Lu Seafood & Dim Sum (above), founded in 1993, just keeps humming along as the bellwether weekend dim sum restaurant in St. Louis. Say “dim sum” in this town and the response is likely to be “Lu Lu.” (Don’t confuse this restaurant with Lulu’s Local Eatery on S. Grand—the two are not related.)
Then there’s Lu Lu Chinese Express (above), serving ready-when-you-are appetizers and entrees. The grab-and-go counters are located inside the Dierbergs stores in Brentwood and Creve Coeur,
Their food truck— Lu Lu Dim Sum Truck — hit the streets in April. (Again, don’t confuse this with the truck from Lulu’s Local Eatery, the one with a garden on its roof.)
Now along comes Lu Lu Asian kitchen (the name was recently changed from Lu Lu Fresh Express), fast-casual restaurants that serve both Chinese staples and healthy alternatives. Its Twitter page says “St. Louis’s newest restaurant is determined to make great tasting, healthy Chinese food accessible to everyone.” Entrepreneur and Asian Kitchen founder Julia Li explained that “food in China is really, really healthy…somewhere that got lost in translation.”
The first Asian Kitchen is slated to open at 9626 Olive (the former Mei Hua Chinese Restaurant) in September; the second will open in the Red Lotus space about the same time. Li told SLM that a third metro location is not out of the question.
(Those unfamiliar with Red Lotus— a combination restaurant, spa, and nail salon—should indulge themselves in Byron Kerman’s cheeky article on same, as this kind of um, fusion, will likely never be seen again.)
If Lu Lu Asian Kitchen catches on in St. Louis, plans are to expand to Chicago and then perhaps to Miami, which is also a possible expansion site for Create Space Generator, the non-profit entrepreneurial business incubator Li launched in 2014.
In the meantime, the master of branding says she’s also working on a line of Chinese hot sauces (“the same ones that Lu Lu’s customers request by the bucketful”) that would be sold at all Lu Lu’s locations…which she hopes will include Dierbergs.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated from an earlier version.
Follow George on Twitter @stlmag_dining or send him an email at [email protected]. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
