Mr. P’s Frozen Treats and Tavello Pizza are the latest of several new businesses adding to the ever-growing roster in downtown Bristol.
The growth that includes more restaurants coming to downtown this summer has been decades in the making.
The ice cream shop is located at 120 N. Main St. in Centre Square Village and recently held a grand opening during which they served hundreds of people each day over a weekend. The business had out-the-door lines and the ice cream shop sold more than 150 strawberry milkshakes alone last weekend.
Owners Jesse and Danielle Pescetelli held a soft opening the previous week and the ice cream shop serves 36 flavors of Hershey’s ice cream. Flavors will be rotated based on popularity. Mr. P’s also serves soft serve ice cream, dairy free ice cream and is exploring other no sugar added flavors. The business also bakes fresh cookies on site, according to the owners.
Jobs and a popular product
“We were overwhelmed by the support we actually opened the previous Saturday just quietly to train our staff,” Jesse Pescetelli, 41, said. “This was a good stress test. Saturday, we had a line out the door. Everybody was thankful and appreciative for having a new ice cream place downtown.”
Monterrey Mexican Restaurant relocated to Monterrey Mexican Restaurant in downtown Bristol last November. (Courtesy)
“It was emotional because we have been building this for a long time,” he added. “I’ve been sacrificing my time with my family on the road for many years and this is a chance for us to be local, small business owners. Eventually, we will get to spend more time with our children here.”
The Pescetellis have three school-aged sons and prior to opening the Mr. P’s, Jesse Pescetelli was a truck driver for Clean Harbors for four years and drove back and forth from Connecticut to Cincinnati twice a week.
“I was on the road a lot and away from home a lot. I was always looking to spin off into another business, especially something where I can be part of my community,” he said. “I wanted to be part of the community in a business, but I couldn’t determine what that business was going to be. We started researching.”
Eventually, the couple who have lived in Bristol for 15 years, decided on ice cream and, instead of driving to Ohio, Jesse Pescetelli’s commute is about two miles from his Bristol home. They closed on their location at Centre Square Village about a year ago. He said the space “checked all of the boxes.”
“I love my job now,” Jesse Pescetelli said.
Jesse Pescetelli said he hired 19 part-time workers, mainly young people from Bristol starting their first job. The business seats about 20 indoors and another 20 outdoors.
Bristol Health on Main Street in downtown Bristol. (Courtesy)
Bringing a ‘vibe’ to Bristol
Jesse Pescetelli said Farmington-based By Carrier built the two Centre Square Village buildings and noted that he’s happy to work with them. The buildings house a total of 104 apartments and also multiple businesses on the first floor.
He praised neighboring businesses Pure Foods, owned by JR and Leanne Rusgrove, as well as Dark Moon Gifts, Axis Barber Shop and Monterrey Mexican Restaurant. Monterrey Mexican Restaurant relocated to 96 North Main St. last November.
“What’s most important to us is being part of this community, being part of this revitalization of downtown and getting in in the beginning so we can grow as this grows,” he said. “And it’s very exciting because Bristol has needed this for a long time. I live here with my wife, my three sons and a lot of times we would leave Bristol to go out to eat, to find decent restaurants. With this project, there’s many restaurants within this two- or three-mile radius here. It’s starting to sprout up new life in downtown and we’re very excited to be part of it.”
Mr. P’s Frozen Treats is open noon to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and noon to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Mr. P’s Frozen Treats dished out 150 strawberry shakes alone during the grand opening in Bristol. (Courtesy)
The goal of making downtown Bristol a business destination has been more than 20 years in the making and with a flurry of more businesses moving into the area, Bristol Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu said the area now has a “vibe.”
In addition to Mr. P’s Frozen Treats, Tavello Pizza moved into 140 N Main St. Sei Bella, an Italian restaurant, will be moving into 182 Main Street and is expected to open in mid-August.
Tavello had a soft opening this past weekend, with a grand opening to come. Social media posts showed long lines in the restaurant. According to the owners, the turnout was so great, they ran out of fresh dough.
“Our soft opening weekend exceeded every expectation we had,” the owners said in a Facebook post. Seeing so many of you walk through our doors, waiting patiently, supporting us and leaving with smiles on your faces made all the hard work worth it.”
The owners noted that the pizzas are made with a signature dough that must ferment for 48 hours.
“From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for making our very first weekend so special. This is only the beginning, and we can’t wait to continue this journey with the Bristol community,” the owners said.
Agave Azul Mexican Restaurant will be opening at 170 Riverside Ave. later this summer and El Bori Bakery opened next door to the Mexican restaurant in June. Zoppo-Sassu said she enjoys the new bakery and on Saturdays “because it’s hard to get in there because it’s so busy.”
It’s been a long road back for downtown Bristol. Zoppo-Sassu said the downtown struggle dates back more than 70 years, when the Flood of ’55 damaged the area. She said urban renewal followed and was not well received, and the downtown businesses opted to move to Route 6.
The Bristol Centre Mall was built in 1969 and 1970. Zoppo-Sassu said the mall was built and had a “heyday of less than a decade” before the Westfarms mall opened nearby in 1974.
“When we talk about investment, it’s done in such a way because people who live here and who have been watching this know that nothing has come easy and I like to say that up until, we took control of them all, which was another very controversial vote in 2005. There were very few reasons to come downtown unless you were picking up a prescription, buying stamps or getting your birth certificate at City Hall,” Zoppo-Sassu said.
Zoppo-Sassu was a city council member at the time of the 2005 vote for Bristol to buy the 17-acre property for $5 million that was formerly the Bristol Centre Mall bounded by North Main Street, Riverside Avenue and Main Street.
Bristol Officials and members of Carrier Company break ground for the Centre Square Village at the former Bristol Mall location on Thursday, July 13, 2023. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
“We did remediation environmental demolition and had to deal with a few remaining tenants that were still leased out in there for relocation expenses, but we felt strongly that we wanted to control our own destiny,” Zoppo-Sassu said. “The area struggled for 20 years easy, probably more. I would pinpoint the moment that we took ownership of the 17 acres as the beginning of finally getting things back on track after probably another 30 or 40 years of floundering prior to that.”
“To have this brand-new vibe built on the former mall site, which was 17 acres, is really a turning point where even the naysayers are now driving downtown going, ‘Oh my God, this actually worked,’” Zoppo-Sassu said.
Centre Square Village is two buildings that face Bristol City Hall and the Bristol Police Department on North Main Street. They were developed by Geno and Ryan Carrier and each building has 52 apartments in it for a total of 104 apartments. They’re leasing at between $1,800 and $2,700. The two Carrier Centre Square Village buildings host eight new businesses. A third Carrier building is also in the works that will showcase about 70 apartments.
“Carrier was the winning developer for the last parcel on the 17-acre mall property. They’re going to start that next – hopefully in a year. It’s a six-story building with apartments with retail bounded on that North Main Street corridor,” said Justin Malley, the Bristol executive director of economic & community development.
“We have all of this other new investment sprinkled along Main Street and Riverside Avenue, which is our gateway,” Zoppo-Sassu added. “We just finished a huge project with the state to realign Route 69 at Route 72, which has brought all kinds of new and interesting businesses into what we call the West End, which is on the backside of downtown. It’s really starting to grow. I think people are noticing it. The word that keeps being used, and my kids roll their eyes when I say it, but it’s a vibe. There’s actually a vibe downtown now, and I’m looking out my office window right now. And there’s three outdoor seating areas.”
‘They only want to go downtown’
Zoppo-Sassu said the Centre Square Village residents who live in the Carrier apartments are out walking their dogs, going to lunch or dinner at nearby restaurants.
“We did not have this before. Then when you come through on a Friday or Saturday night, there’s lots of cars here. We actually are experiencing a fun problem when we have city meetings finding parking spots. We didn’t have that problem 10-15 years ago,” Zoppo-Sassu said. “It’s an interesting mix of food and retail, commercial, and service, and they’re doing what we thought they would do, and that is attracting new people downtown and returning customers as well.”
Malley said the Centre Square Village eight businesses “are a combination of Bristol businesses that came here and expanded their footprint and took a gamble on that and are doing extremely well.”
Can Dogrucan is the co-owner of Tavello, which will specialize in Neapolitan pizza. He imported two 6,000-pound ovens from Italy that arrived in downtown Bristol last week.
The restaurant will be open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the last pizza being made at 8:30 p.m. Tavello also offers handmade cannoli and gelato and Italian-theme drinks.
Dogrucan, a native of Turkey, moved to Simsbury last year. He said he grew up in the pizza business, and he worked for his family-owned pizzerias in Turkey for much of his life.
“We have top-quality ingredients imported from Italy. Our ovens are from Italy. My partner also is certified in Neapolitan pizza. We are trying to do everything as it is in Italy,” Dogrucan said.
Dogrucan said his space is 4,100 square feet that seats 100 indoors and about 40 on an outdoor patio.
“We have an open kitchen concept so everybody can see how we are making the pizza, tossing it and putting all the toppings,” Dogrucan said. “Our ovens can reach up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. We can bake a pizza in 60 seconds. That’s the way of baking Neapolitan because it’s high heat and the oven is just making it a little bubbly with the right amount of crunch and also a little bit charry so you can get that full flavor.”
He added that their dough is fermented for 48 hours.
“If the dough is not fermented long enough, it’s going to ferment in your guts. When people are getting that heavy feeling after eating it – it’s not good pizza. We are only using the best ingredients. We are investing a lot of money into our product, for us the most important thing is the product itself,” Dogrucan said.
Dogrucan the business also plans to hold pizza making classes on site and it will be another food option for those in downtown Bristol.
“When you think about North Main Street on a linear basis, we now have a dozen different food choices ranging from Ken’s Grill, which is a food truck that’s been around for 25 years and people will literally lose their minds when he decides to retire all the way up the strip,” Zoppo-Sassu said. “The new places, the hole in the wall places, the ethnic features. There’s something for everyone now. This is really starting to come together at different menu options and at different price points.”
Sei Bella is co-owned by 39-year-old New Britain resident Julien Garcia. He said his restaurant name translates to “Hey, gorgeous” in Italian.
Garcia, a native of Puerto Rico, said he’s worked in the restaurant business since 2008, and this is first he has owned. His primary job is working in restaurant consulting and initially he was looking for someone else to buy the Bristol space he ended up in.
“Bristol has done a great job of growing and developing, but it has to translate 100% to those outside of Bristol…I think there’s potential with this space. We can make something fun, energetic and dope. That’s why I’m here,” Garcia said.
He said his restaurant, which will open in mid-August, is considered “freestyle Italian.”
“It is Italian, but we have flexibility to do international food with Italian dishes. So if we wanted to do a Caribbean lobster dish, we are able to do that. It’s modern Italian,” Garcia said.
Sei Bella will feature house made pasta, ravioli and other essentials. Garcia said his restaurant will have a very small menu compared to industry standards but will be “heavy on specials” such as seasonal ravioli.
The restaurant will seat about 100 and includes 20 seats at the bar area, which will have a full cocktail menu, 14 drafts and wine.
Bristol Mayor Ellen Zopo-Sassu (Courtesy)
“I’m all about helping the underdog and that translated to Bristol and what they are developing here. They are doing a great downtown and I can see the vision of the city. More apartments are being developed, and more people will be within walking distance of the restaurant,” Garcia said.
Garcia took over the property in May and has been remodeling since. He said he kept the core of the building with a “great brick accent.” The restaurant has six walls and several of them feature photos of iconic women in the world.
“The best way I can describe it is that it’s very Instagrammable, right? But not your neon signs, it’s very soulful,” Garcia said.
“This is exciting because we’ve had people clamoring for an Italian restaurant open in Bristol for as long as I’ve been here, which has been a while. It’s cool to see this new young owner. It’s not traditional Italian – it has a modern twist on it. So that’s really fun,” Malley said.
Malley added that Wheeler Health moving its headquarters to downtown Bristol brought 200 workers to the area each day, significant to the growth of businesses downtown. He said that the move of Eagle Environmental to downtown at 150 Main Street last year also was significant.
Mr. P’s Frozen Treats had a ribbon cutting last week in Bristol.
“I’ve been here a while, when I would talk with restaurants in the past or any type of business, really. Let’s say they were interested in locating somewhere in town, I would make it a point to talk about downtown, but I would bring it up and do a little sales work at least to get folks to consider locating downtown. Now, it’s the opposite. Folks call me, and they only want to go downtown. That’s where they want to be. It’s been an interesting ride to get to this point,” Malley said.
