Yesterday, Tampa's favorite Indian-restaurant-in-a-trailer moved from its semi-mobile home to an actual building. Tun-Du-Ree's owner Bhava Saravana had been looking towards acquiring a storefront for about a year, and recently found a suitable spot at 1506 W. Kennedy, between SoHo and downtown. Then came the "18-hour work days-1hr commute, 3 hrs cooking, 6 hrs at the trailer, 6 hrs handy man work at the new location, 2 hrs meetings, discussions, planing, web-surfing and blogging."
Now Saravana is down to more manageable 12-14 hour work days, although there is still some build-out to do, especially an outdoor patio he has planned.
There's nothing new — except for the walls and roof, of course — and the menu is largely the same simple and satisfying Indian cuisine as before. Saravana does have a brand new website, complete with menu and blog (which seems to be getting the short end of the long work days). Check it out and let us know what you think.
This article appears in Nov 12-18, 2008.