The four-plus-mile stretch of Havana Street between Dartmouth and Sixth Avenue in Aurora is home to the most diverse array of international cuisine available in the metro area. From restaurants and markets to take-and-go shops and stands, food lovers of nearly any ethnicity or interest can find a place that will remind them of home or open new culinary doors. In Eat Up Havana, Westword contributor Antony Bruno will visit them all, one by one, week by week.
Previous stops:
- Old Town Hot Pot
- Leezakaya
- Chutney Indian Cuisine
- El Tequileno
- Milkroll
- Shin Myung Gwan Korean BBQ
- Watan Restaurant & Bakery
- Las Fajitas
On a dark and stormy night, when you’re stuck in the midst of the kind of late-spring storm that turns skies gray with a miserable mix of snow and rain, a steaming bowl of hearty soup sounds like just what the doctor ordered.
And if you’re fortunate to live within a reasonable distance, one solid option for your soupy cure is Mr. Tang on Aurora’s Havana Street. Amid the many Korean dining options on this highly diverse strip of culinary delights that concentrate on BBQ, hot pot or chicken, Mr. Tang stands apart because it focuses almost solely on one very specific, very satisfying speciality: Korean style soup.
“Tang” means soup in Korean, and Mr. Tang definitely lives up to its name. The entire first page of the small two-page menu offers thirteen types of soup, with several family-style options on page two.
According to owner Helen Chu, these soups fall into different camps depending on their base broth. Most feature a white bone broth that is the staple of Korean tang. This broth is largely unseasoned by design, serving as a blank slate for diners to flavor to their individual liking with salt and pepper, as well as the provided red pepper paste, jalapenos and soy souce.
“We boil our bone broth for 72 hours to get that white color,” says Chu, noting that they don’t add dairy or other additives sometimes used to whiten the broth. “We don’t add anything into it, so I feel our food is more unique and I trust that people will taste the difference.”
Other options are a seasoned boiled beef broth, a mushroom broth and a spicy beef broth. There's also a wide variety of meat for the broths, from simple slices of beef brisket to a medley of brisket, ox tail, ox knee, and beef cheek and rib.
All soups are served with the trademark banchan medley of side dishes — including kimchi, sweet pickled cabbage and fish cakes — as well as rice and a dipping sauce. And all the soup ingredients are meltingly, fall-off-the-bone tender, which is particularly helpful in the case of the oxtail (which can be a challenge to pick from the star-shaped bone if not cooked for the proper time).
Soups aside, the menu offers a handful of family-style options, such as the Galbi Jimm, a mix of braised beef short ribs and rice cakes with bell peppers, potatoes, carrots and eggs meant for two or three people (but could easily feed four). That dish has a spicy option, as well as one covered in shredded cheese that the server melts tableside with a blowtorch.
The beef rib alone would be enough to satisfy in this soup dish, but it also has oxtail, ox knee, beef cheek and brisket.
Antony Bruno
Mr. Tang originally opened in July 2022; Chu bought the place in August 2023. While this marked her transition from a career in nursing to entrepreneurial restaurateur, she was not a complete beginner in the business. Growing up, her parents owned a pair of Asian-themed restaurants, one in Arvada and one in the old Eureka casino in Black Hawk.
She also owns the H-Cafe in the Denver Tech Center. But Mr. Tang is her first foray into Korean cuisine.
“We’ve never done a Korean restaurant before,” she says. “I'm used to the more American style, so I just wanted to pursue something more for Korean people.”
After all, her husband owns a beverage distribution business focusing on Korean drinks like chum churum, soju and Kloud and Krush beers (well-advertised within the Mr. Tang space). And she’s looking to expand on Korean concepts with her future plans.
“The economy is not great right now, but we’re gonna try to open something different, something that’s not here in Denver yet,” she says. “We’re still thinking about it.”
Some may remember Chu for calling out a local social “influencer” for not delivering on the video promotion he'd promised the restaurant last year. But with a satisfying and unique niche like the soups served at Mr. Tang, they shouldn’t have to pay for attention, anyway.
Mr. Tang is located at 2680 South Havana Street, Unit M, in Aurora and is open from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday through Tuesday. For more information, visit www.mr-tang.com.
