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Hartford Restaurant/Retail

ctman987

By ctman987
in Greater Hartford

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jcrc Hamlet

jcrc

Posted
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This sounds promising.

I am still waiting on seeing whatever they are working on in the American Airlines building as well as waiting patienly for the city to let Kyto finish their roof top bar.

With Citi closing there will need to be some positive signs around there to counter the empty space.

Have not see any construction activity at the Kyoto site. This is depressing. I feel so bad for the proprietors.

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

Posted
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Have not see any construction activity at the Kyoto site. This is depressing. I feel so bad for the proprietors.

Me too. I have such high hopes for that place. If it ever opens I fully intend on becoming a regular there.

Imagine this concept..... ME, sitting on my pearch above Pratt Street sipping a nice dirty martini on a sunny day. And yes of course siphoning off your WIFI jcrc :) and if I get tired I just go downstairs for a coffee.

I really hope this gets past that zoning hurdle. I likely never will be sipping a martini up there, but I wouldnt mind killing a few happy hours there in the summer.

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grock Whistle-Stop

grock

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Heard a rumor that Ruth's Chris Steak House is looking to open downtown. I guess the one on the Berlin Turnpike loses out on all the convention business to Morton's. Also the Newington one isn't in keeping with the company philosphy to be in corporate upscale places.

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

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Heard a rumor that Ruth's Chris Steak House is looking to open downtown. I guess the one on the Berlin Turnpike loses out on all the convention business to Morton's. Also the Newington one isn't in keeping with the company philosphy to be in corporate upscale places.

Maybe they are the eatery renting part of H-21

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

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I know it seems as though Hartford has no downtown retail save stagpole, but this is in fact changing.

as of today, there is a new street vendor that has replaced the sketchy van vendor on main street across from 10 State House square.

The van guy was arrested a while back, and he mainly had knock off type stuff. this new replacement is different entirely.

There are 3 easy ups out there. one with clothes. looks mostly like womens dresses. the middle tent is jewelry, and the 3rd tent is hand bags.

they are literally swarmed with your average middle aged hartford fremale office worker.

If you missed the sketchy van vendor, there is a guy that sells simular stuff at the corner of Church and main across from Capitol CC.

Also the vendor days inside of the SHS food court has been having more organized vendors and they seem to do a bank up business.

lastly the food cart business is really picking up downtown.

Woodys hotdogs has competition. so there are now 2 hot dog vendors. Also the fish place moved over by the other carts so it is a lot more lively with 2 hot dog carts, 1 fish cart, 1 italian cart, and an asian? cart.

A city with good street vendors is always much more lively than one without.

Also the city makes good income on these guys.

I am glad to see all of this activity because I think it means that before long you will see a traditional vendor join our downtown street scape.

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

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Those 3 easy up tents are now 4 tents.

I am really happy to see this as it is classy. It reminds me of the market on the Embarcaredo in San Francisco, but well 20 tents light... :)

The tents now have sinage...

I am not sure all 4 tents are the same people

one on the end, that is new is called "Buxton Leather Outlet"

and one of the 3 tents has a sign saying "How Bizare"

It is encouraging to see this kind of development as it should show the demand for actual retail.

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

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Seriously?

No one cares but me?

Today there are now 5 tents.

I noticed that the BID people are providing the tents and the tables. So it is interesting to see this is not just random improvement, it is actual organized improvement of the downtown street experience.

So every day there seems to be some kind of new improvement. at the end of the day yesterday, there was another vendor that moved near by. I am not sure if it is the sunglass guy fromm Church and Main, or a new sunglass and knockoff salesperson. Either way, I think you gotta have some of the knockoff sales stuff mixed in with the rest of it or its just not Hartford.

anyone else see all this activity?

Something else I noticed this AM is that there are construction workers cutting a hole in the top of the news stand right next to the tents. It might be related to this whole BID thing going on down there. we will see.

and can I go on record now as saying that the city could really use a permanent market of some sort.

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MichaelQReilly Whistle-Stop

MichaelQReilly

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and can I go on record now as saying that the city could really use a permanent market of some sort.

I would love it if the small farmer's market that they have in front of the state house expanded to a European-type outdoor food market. That would have the added bonus of filling in to some extent for the lack of a grocery store. Now if we can just a baker to set up shop somewhere downtown...

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

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I would love it if the small farmer's market that they have in front of the state house expanded to a European-type outdoor food market. That would have the added bonus of filling in to some extent for the lack of a grocery store. Now if we can just a baker to set up shop somewhere downtown...

There is at least one farmer there. I know many people I work with pick up produce there fairly often.

It is a start I guess right.

A fish monger a baker and a butcher, would eliminate the need for a grocer :)

I would say the state house building itself would work well, but in reality it is too important of a historic building to stink up with food refuse.

I think that unfortunately something like this would be a long ways away here in Hartford. At least a few thousand residents away.

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

Posted
Posted

a little resturant/retail re-cap.

There is a new food joint going in at "chow row" on Temple street next to Saigon Kitchen.

I asked the electrician working inside what it was and he did not know, so I asked the lady from Saigon Kitchen. she was a little confusing as she normally is :)

I am pretty sure she said it was Au Bon Pain and they were leaving the foodcourt at State House square.

I work in SHS and there is no Au Bon Pain there, so that confused me. but then she said that all of the places in the food court were working without a lease except blimpie. This is why DJs closed. she said they want to close the food court because its expensive to run. and do some kind of renovation after blimpies lease ends. but this does not make much sense to me since they have most of the places filled and it seems it is a good money maker. But she did mention the new owners bla bla. Well the new owners might be looking to do some kind of renovation, who knows.

So most of that is speculation, but we can confirm that there is something going in next to the chinese place on Temple, so this is very good stuff in my opinoin.

I know there was supposed to be an einsteins bagels there, and Einstein has been public about expanding in CT. so hopefully we will get one of those as well as the Downtown MO's that was mentioned in another article.

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Theophrastus Bombastus Hamlet

Theophrastus Bombastus

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That is what I thought, then she went on and on about the food court at State House Square and named specific tenants in there.

so really, who knows, but we will find out soon enough because these retail spaces build out pretty quickly.

I'm sure they meant one of the two "natural food" kiosks there, I forget their names. That food court is hopping at lunch, is it so dead at other times they cant afford to keep it open?? I like that Thai food place.

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

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I'm sure they meant one of the two "natural food" kiosks there, I forget their names. That food court is hopping at lunch, is it so dead at other times they cant afford to keep it open?? I like that Thai food place.

All of the food pllaces close well before I get off work. The Market is open untill 6 I think though, because some days I see it open some days I do not.

All of the food places do pretty well it seems. if any are loosing money it is doe to poor management. its hard to walk in there at noon. Hell I try and avoid it around lunch.

as far as Thai, you should try the green Mango on Pratt. I thought it was much better than the one in the food court. Also there is a new place opening on Pratt that used to be the itallian place if you read above. I think it is supposed to be Thai as well. looks VERY nice inside. huge improvement in my opinion.

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Theophrastus Bombastus Hamlet

Theophrastus Bombastus

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All of the food pllaces close well before I get off work. The Market is open untill 6 I think though, because some days I see it open some days I do not.

All of the food places do pretty well it seems. if any are loosing money it is doe to poor management. its hard to walk in there at noon. Hell I try and avoid it around lunch.

as far as Thai, you should try the green Mango on Pratt. I thought it was much better than the one in the food court. Also there is a new place opening on Pratt that used to be the itallian place if you read above. I think it is supposed to be Thai as well. looks VERY nice inside. huge improvement in my opinion.

thanks, i'll try them (the girl at the shs thai place is cute though)

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

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Black Bear was good. Went there for lunch.

the burger was a little steep at 12 bones, but $4 Bass pin was decent.

Honestly the Bacon Guac burger was one of the better burgers I have ever had.

the place still smells like fresh varnish. mmmm new bar smell

On the walk back to the office there was a guy working on the future location of Coaches. We asked and he again confirmed that Coaches will upen across from Agave in the old fish place. he said it will open first week of November

and then we saw that Tapas will be moving into the corner space that Tuesdays used to have. I am not sure if Tapas is expanding as they are right next door now, or moving entirely. but a good location for them and it will help make the are look more lively than Tuesdays did.

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zimbu1228 Unincorporated Area

zimbu1228

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Black Bear was good. Went there for lunch.

the burger was a little steep at 12 bones, but $4 Bass pin was decent.

Honestly the Bacon Guac burger was one of the better burgers I have ever had.

the place still smells like fresh varnish. mmmm new bar smell

On the walk back to the office there was a guy working on the future location of Coaches. We asked and he again confirmed that Coaches will upen across from Agave in the old fish place. he said it will open first week of November

and then we saw that Tapas will be moving into the corner space that Tuesdays used to have. I am not sure if Tapas is expanding as they are right next door now, or moving entirely. but a good location for them and it will help make the are look more lively than Tuesdays did.

Was in the Black Bear Wednesday, awesome Buffalo Burger, plan to go back soon, try some more of the menu.

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