Controversial Lexington coffee shop has left; new high profile restaurant moving in

A Kentucky chef recently named a James Beard award semi-finalist is opening her own local restaurant.

Sam Fore announced on her social media that she is planning to open Tuk Tuk Snack Shop at 124 Malabu Dr. Suite 110 in The Venue.

It’s the former location of Brewed coffee shop, which apparently is moving to a new location on Nicholasville Road, according to owner Andrew Cooperrider. The coffee shop closed in February, according to Cooperrider. He has not released the new location but said it will reopen to the public in June.

The coffee shop was ordered closed in November 2020 after Cooperrider refused to stop serving indoors during the COVID pandemic shutdown. He has since tried to impeach Gov. Andy Beshear and has sued the governor over the loss of his liquor license.

Cooperrider, who lost a campaign for the GOP nomination for a state Senate seat, now is running for state Treasurer.

New Sam Fore restaurant: Tuk Tuk Snack Shop

“We’ve saged, cleansed and purged any of the negative juju present out the doors, and are now in the process of building a kitchen and counter service restaurant we are going to be very proud of,” Fore wrote in her online newsletter.

Fore, who began her cooking career with pop-ups called Tuk Tuk Sri Lankan Bites, said she plans to open her restaurant around the end of summer or early fall. She has made a name for herself nationally with food that’s a fusion of Sri Lankan and Southern and she’s now on “Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street” and has been cooking at pop-up events across the country. She will be at Taste of the Derby in Louisville ahead of the Kentucky Derby.

In January, Fore and Isaiah Screetch, who cooks for the pay-what-you-can Spark Community Cafe in Versailles were named semi-finalists in the category “Best Chef: Southeast” by the James Beard Awards. On March 28, Fore learned she is a finalist. Winners will be named June 5.

In a 2020 interview, Fore told the Herald-Leader that as a child of immigrants she was expected to work hard and to become a doctor like her father. But she realized it wasn’t for her and instead she worked in a variety of fields, from the music industry to website design, before finding an audience with her food.

One of Lexington’s most famous chefs says she is finally going to open a restaurant

Fore began serving brunches in her home to friends and the business blossomed from there.

She said that she is in the process of building the interior of the new location.

“We will take all the love we can get ... we are doing this thing ourselves like the tent before and the projects since, and we want to create a great place to work, eat and hang out,” Fore said in her newsletter.