Business & Tech

After Delay, Brasserie Quietly Opens in West Hartford Center

Dorjan Puka's much-anticipated A'Vert opens in West Hartford Center.

After a bit of a delay, chef Dorjan Puka’s much-anticipated A’Vert (pronounced Ah-vair) brasserie quietly opened Monday.

Puka aimed for a mid-September opening, but was delayed by unanticipated issues obtaining the proper materials for construction.

“We didn’t tell anyone, we just decided to open Monday,” Puka said in a telephone interview. “We opened the doors and took a couple walk ins. On Tuesday we opened in full.”

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Puka opened the French bistro for dinner only this week, and the reception has been predictably outstanding.

“So far, so good,” Puka said in a telephone interview. “It’s very nice and steady. We’ve been busy.”

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Staff at the restaurant located at 35 LaSalle Road in West Hartford Center said that popular items on the menu include escargot, steak frites and French onion soup.

Puka, who said that the brasserie will open for lunch this Monday, said that the end result was worth the wait.

“I’m very happy,” he said. “The music and food and atmosphere are very nice. People are very happy. … I’m passionate about it. I love what I do.”

A’Vert, which is the sister restaurant to Puka’s popular Italian restaurant Treva in the Center, is open for dinner this week starting at 5 p.m. It will start serving lunch next week until about 3 p.m. and then re-open for dinner at 4 p.m., Puka said.

The restaurant is not taking reservations just yet, as there are only 50 seats in the dining room and 25 more in the bar area. The wait time was about 20 minutes on Wednesday, Puka said.

“It’s very hard to take a reservation with a small restaurant,” Puka said. “We suggest people come early.”


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