Every family has its recipes, its own spin on classic dishes. Whether it’s spaghetti sauce or green chile or dumplings. In the case of Nana’s Dim Sum & Dumplings, most of the recipes were handed down through the generations to Kelly Liu, who is part of a group of several friends and business partners behind the growing restaurant chain.

“The beautiful thing about Nana’s is that because it is so consistent across the locations, people think it must be owned by a big corporate entity,” said Esther Kang, a spokesperson for the ownership group. “But it is literally made up of friends and family who have known each other for decades and who raised their kids together and who grew up in their own parents’ restaurants.”

Nana’s opened its fifth location, at 9328 Jordan Road in Parker, on May 28, just two months after cutting the ribbon on its fourth location, at 2005 Clinton St. in Aurora. The owners have three other spots of varying sizes, including the original at 3316 Tejon St. in Denver, one at 2495 S. Havana St. in Aurora, and another at 1125 13th St. in Boulder.

They have concrete plans to open three more, at 180 W. 10th Ave. in Denver’s Golden Triangle neighborhood, at 1895 Democracy Point in Colorado Springs, and at 125 Ken Pratt Blvd. in Longmont. They are also looking for more locations, Kang said.

While Americans are used to dim sum restaurants — from San Francisco to Denver to New York City — that feature servers wheeling carts loaded with Chinese specialties through large spaces, Nana’s took a different approach, focusing on the food itself. So, rather than carts, customers will find open windows into the kitchen where employees are hand-rolling dumplings.

Someone’s hands are making these, just like your mother or grandmother or grandfather or father or uncle,” Kang said. “The dumplings are literally being made and steamed and served right there. If you go in and order seven things you’ve got to be ready to eat, because it’s coming out hot and it’s coming out fast. Most of it is meant to be shared.”And dumplings are very much the specialty here, from the “thumblings,” which are bite-sized, pan-fried dumplings, to xiao long bao (soup dumplings) in various forms, shu mai, steamed barbecue pork buns and classic pan-fried or steamed dumplings.

But Nana’s has plenty of other offerings, like the stellar mapo tofu, beef pancake rolls, and honey chicken feet — something that’s “not on every menu,” Kang pointed out.

Seasonal dishes this summer include: braised beef shank simmered in chili oil, dried chilies, jalapeño, and garlic; and pan-seared sea bass glazed in oyster sauce and seasoned soy.

Kang said Nana’s owners are also excited about serving dim sum outside of the Federal Boulevard and west Denver neighborhoods where they are traditionally found.

“If there is a place, there can be dumplings. That is the spirit of the team,” she explained. “Denver has a way of really nurturing and uplifting something they enjoy. You won’t find entire cities filled with Chinese food, but when you do something really well, it is the same as other cities.”

In the end, the owners want Nana’s to “taste like home,” she concluded. “Other restaurants have paved the way because (their owners) wanted to assimilate and belong. And now, belonging also looks like mapo tofu or honey chicken feet or signature bao.”