Brothers Joe, left, and Dominic Futia, co-owners of the former Avanti Italian Ristorante & Lounge, are photographed in the bar area of their now closed restaurant on River Road in Meriden on September 6, 2024.
Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media
Dominic Futia, chef owner of the new Avanti Grille in Cheshire. Behind him is the special domed pizza oven.
Courtesy Dominic Futia
The interior of Avanti Grille in Cheshire in an antique building at the Watch Factory development.
Courtesy Dominic Futia
The new Avanti Grille in Cheshire opened recently after its owners had closed their original restaurant in Meriden over a year ago.
Courtesy Dominic Futia
Chocolate martini at the new Avanti Grille in Cheshire.
Courtesy Dominic Futia
The courtyard at the Avanti Grille’s new location in Cheshire, which the owner plans to use for patio seating in the warm weather months.
Courtesy Dominic Futia
CHESHIRE – Meriden’s long-standing Avanti Italian Restaurant and Lounge has been reincarnated into the new Avanti Grille at the Watch Factory after the original eatery closed more than a year ago.
Dominic Futia and his brother Joseph “Joe” Futia, now retired, had run the old Avanti, known for its classic Italian food, together for 17 years, opening in 2007. Just Dominic Futia is involved in the Cheshire location, which opened in December.
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“It was a little bit heartbreaking,” Dominic Futia said. “We had built a very nice clientele over there.”
They left the Meriden space in fall 2024 after the building was put up for sale and they decided to not purchase it, but move on.
While it was hard to say goodbye to their beloved restaurant, Dominic Futia said he is pleased with the move to 122 Elm St. in the antique brick Watch Factory with its tall windows and brick courtyard. He said he was captivated by its “old world charm” when he first saw it.
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The new eatery seats 85, smaller than the Meriden location, which sat about 160, but Futia said the amenities in the antique building make up for that.
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Futia is also pleased that many long-time customers have visited the eatery’s new home.
“I’ve been in the business for over 40 years, so I have a following from pretty much all of Central Connecticut,” Futia said. “I’ve seen a lot of people come in from all over.”
It took several months to build out the new spot, starting last summer, Futia said. Because it is such an old building, he needed to upgrade the plumbing and electrical while preserving its “character.”
“It needed a lot of work,” he said. But he approached the reconstruction on the interior with an eye to carefully working around its original structural elements – leaving the walls, woodwork or brickwork as they were.
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All of Futia’s brothers – including Tony and Cosmo, who are both retired, lent a hand with opening the new Avanti Grille.
“They’re not full-time with it, but they helped me out,” he said.
What’s really new at the Avanti Grille is a domed pizza oven imported from Italy, which cooks the pies over an open flame. The new oven limits the size of the pizza to 12 inches, which the restaurant offers as personal-sized pizzas, he said.
Specialty pizzas include the classic margherita and the new “Pesto Roni,” topped with a pesto, cheese and pepperoni, finished with a drizzle of hot honey.
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The menu at Avanti Grille is a mix of the old and the new.
“We have some of the items that we had from the old place, some of the favorites,” Futia said, including chicken Marsala, stuffed chicken gorgonzola, traditional pasta dishes and filet mignon.
Menu additions include miso salmon and new sandwiches, such as “Saucy Bird,” which has burrata and chicken cutlets in vodka sauce and the “Big Dom,” which Futia named after himself, and is a baked pizza pocket stuffed with ham, salami, provolone, lettuce, tomato, red onion and pickles.
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Another new feature at the eatery is the brick courtyard, which Futia is looking forward to using for patio seating once the weather is warm enough.
“It’s really charming out there,” he said.
Dining and Cooking