The owners of b Restaurants (Plan B Burger Bar), Tisane Euro-Asian Cafe and The Half Door are preparing to add a new Farmington member to the family.
Butchers & Bakers, a new concept by Locals 8 Restaurant Group, is slated for an April opening at 270 Farmington Ave., at The Exchange. The restaurant will take over the former Maratta’s Front Row space, said Shannon Lowry, marketing director for Locals 8.
Butchers & Bakers will move away from its predecessor’s sports-bar vibe, instead offering a more rustic feel with exposed brick and reclaimed wood, Lowry said. Maratta’s double coal-fired ovens will be key to the concept’s new-American fare with Italian influence, featuring pizzas, baked pasta dishes and shareable small plates.
“We’re very focused on making everything from scratch,” Lowry said, specifically items like ricotta, pizza dough, house-baked breads and cured meats for charcuterie platters. Large cuts of meat will be butchered in-house, and Butchers & Bakers will use fresh produce from Urth Farms in New Britain, which Locals 8 founder and CEO Al Gamble purchased last year.
Pizzas will be priced at about $11 to $15, with base options and create-your-own choices. Small shareable plates will be $10 to $15, and entrees, including steaks, pork chops and pastas, will be about $18 to $25, Lowry said. A lunch menu, geared to serve area businesses like UConn Health, will offer sandwiches and grinders as well.
“We do have pizza, but we’re not a pizza restaurant,” she said. “We’re doing a lot of Italian, new American-inspired dishes; very fresh, rustic, homey dishes that are shareable and comfortable, and it’s just going to be a great place to hang out.”
While the group’s b Restaurants are known for specialty bourbons and craft beer, Butchers & Bakers will have an emphasis on wines, with an expanded list and two whites and a sangria available on tap. Cocktails will feature classics like margaritas and sloe gin fizzes, and a Tito’s vodka lemonade with rosemary will also be served on draft.
The restaurant will seat about 75 on the main dining floor, with another 30 at the bar and a 50-seat patio, Lowry said, and Butchers & Bakers plans to maximize patio season with heaters and fire pits.
Butchers & Bakers is currently hiring for several positions. Follow restaurant updates at facebook.com/butchersandbakers.
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