When The Charles restaurant opened in Wethersfield four years ago, owners Bryce and Kerri Hardy filled in a dining out gap in town, offering a modern twist on old favorites prepared with high-quality ingredients, otherwise known as “elevated comfort food.”
Now, the couple is expanding from the suburbs to a second location in downtown Hartford, offering a dramatically different lunch and dinner menu paired with a late-night cocktail bar. The new restaurant — partly small-plate, partly Asian-inspired — again will fill a gap, its menu and bar distinguished from other restaurants, the Hardys promise. The restaurant also will occupy the former Dish Bar & Grill on Main Street empty since 2020.
“We’re excited to part of that later-night scene,” Bryce Hardy said. “We want to see people walking around past 9 o’clock.”
The Hardys are part of a still-small group of restaurateurs with successful ventures in the Hartford suburbs that are increasingly spotting the opportunity for growth and expansion in and around downtown Hartford. Their push into downtown is another piece of an economic development puzzle that also includes entrepreneurs who launched businesses in the city and others who have been in Hartford for years, experts say.
David Griggs, executive director of the MetroHartford Alliance, the region’s chamber of commerce, said the interest from suburban restaurateurs is notable because their original locations are staying open.
“What we’re seeing is successful entrepreneurs — restaurants, retail — that have been living in the suburban market, recognizing that ‘Holy Cow’ there is an urban market,” Griggs said. “And bringing those successful people into the city is just what we want to do.”
The combination of suburban and downtown locations also contributes to the larger picture of regional growth, Griggs said.
“It’s not an either/or,” Griggs said. “It’s both.”
The Hardys say they expect their downtown restaurant — The Drake — to open by the end of the year. And they will join at least two others that have already opened.
Manchester-based Urban Lodge Brewing Co. opened last fall, transforming a long-vacant storefront on Pratt Street, a hub of downtown revitalization. And Victus Coffee, part of J. René Coffee Roasters in West Hartford, began serving eight weeks ago on the ground floor of the 777 Main high-rise apartment building. The space was formerly occupied by Blue State Coffee and, for a brief time, G Cafe.
Not a commuter city
The three expansions all were aided by the city’s Hart Lift storefront revitalization program. The grants are $67,500 for Victus; $150,000 for Urban Lodge; and $225,000 for The Drake, according to the Hartford Chamber of Commerce, which administered the program’s city pandemic-relief funds.
Each business owner said the grants played a role in the decision to open new locations in downtown Hartford, but to varying degrees.
The grants are helping to leverage hundreds of thousands of dollars in private investment.
Certainly, there have been other notable expansions from the suburbs over the years. For example, celebrity chef Tyler Anderson, part owner of Millwright’s Restaurant & Tavern, launched dining and a bar at The Goodwin hotel in downtown Hartford in 2018. Anderson pulled the plug on the venture in December to work on other projects.
The expansions come as the city — and particularly downtown — works to move forward with revitalization that suffered a setback in the pandemic. Apartment construction that added 3,000 units in the last decade in the downtown area, mostly in converted office space, is poised to add hundreds more apartments in 2024 and beyond. Occupancy in the new apartment projects generally remains high, at 90% or better.
Despite the surge in apartment construction, the pandemic showed how dependent downtown still is on office workers to support the ecosystem of restaurants, bars, shops and other businesses. While the office-to-apartment conversions have helped, the city says an even better balance must be struck between residences and offices in the coming years.
“For us and a lot of other people who are coming downtown with their businesses, understanding what the city is trying to do — and that is to steer away from just being a commuter city and putting in residences,” Michael Gerrity, Urban Lodge’s co-owner, said. “And to try to bring in the amenities and the residences at the same time. It’s like you’ve got to have both. And previously, Hartford didn’t necessarily have that, so it was hard to sustain.”
So far, Gerrity said the response to Urban Lodge’s second location has been stronger than expected, with hundreds coming through the door on weekends and particularly when there is an event at the nearby XL Center arena.
“You can have an idea, and obviously you can put it in place, but without the support of the community, you’re in trouble,” Gerrity said. “The UConn games have been huge. They’re unbelievable. It’s nice to see, and I hope the growth continues for everybody.”
‘Really like what we see’
Two blocks to the south, Victus Coffee, open since Jan. 29 at 777 Main, is encouraged by the foot traffic.
“I really like what we see,” José René Martinez, founder and co-owner of J. René Coffee Roasters and its Victus affiliate, said. “And I can tell you the numbers speak for themselves. We had some goals that we were hoping to hit. And we met them. We’re already in the black, and that’s amazing. We’ve only been operating for eight weeks.”
Anne Mercer, a Victus co-owner and manager of the Hartford shop, said the 26-story apartment building above the shop is a good strong base of customers. There are also those who work downtown and know J. René from West Hartford.
“There’s movement and there’s vibrancy in Hartford,” Mercer said. “I guess the word you’d use is ‘buzz.’ And it’s exciting. I mean, why not have our coffee program be part of that?”
The J. René coffee shop opened in West Hartford in 2012, but before that, Martinez had been roasting coffee part-time on New Park Avenue in Hartford. An assistant attorney general for the state of Connecticut, Martinez does not run the day-to-day operations of either J. René or Victus.
In a recent visit to the shop, Martinez looks out the front window across Main Street to the Old State House. The location fits well with a coffee shop that aspires to promote conversations — there is no wi-fi — among visitors who gather.
“It’s not just about creating a bunch of tables,” Martinez said. “It’s about people getting along, about exchanging ideas, about having differences. But still, at the end, breaking bread as friends. And I think that’s one of the things we’ve lost is our ability to debate, our ability to engage. The positions are passionate but there is another side to it.”
Mercer said there also was a conscious effort also to slow down the automation that is overtaking coffee shops, part of the Victus artisanal business philosophy.
Victus offers customers the option of coffee prepared using a 21st -century version of a siphon pot, popular in American homes prior to the invention of the percolator and once manufactured in Hartford.
The siphon pot takes boiling water from a lower chamber and forces it into an upper chamber through a vacuum process. The coffee is then hand mixed and later strained before being poured into a cup.
Sign at the end of the street
The designs for how the former Dish space will be changed to fit The Drake are now nearing completion and final renderings are being drawn up.
Hardy said it is too soon to say exactly what will be on the menu, but the chef will have more freedom with the ingredients that go into the dishes.
The Drake will provide an opportunity to give downtown Hartford something that is different, just like The Charles did in Wethersfield, Hardy said.
A season ticketholder for University of Connecticut men’s basketball, Hardy has stood at the western end of Pratt Street after a game at the XL Center and looked east. Directly ahead is the Dish space and the future home of The Drake.
“It’s really awesome to stand at that end of the street,” Hardy said, “and imagine what that sign is going to look like at the top.”
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com
