A franchisee of Artichoke Basille’s Pizza has closed its Newington restaurant and moved the operation to downtown Hartford.
Franchisee Matthew Rusconi launched the New York chain’s first Connecticut location on the Berlin Turnpike in February, several months before announcing he would open another restaurant this winter in the former site of McKinnon’s Irish Pub at 114 Asylum St.
But the Newington location shuttered in recent weeks as Rusconi transitioned the operation to Hartford for its grand opening on Tuesday.
“While we loved the Newington location, Hartford was always a place we wanted to be,” he said. “When the McKinnon’s Pub spot became available, we knew it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up, so we decided to relocate Artichoke Pizza to Hartford.”
The relocation creates a vacancy for what was the franchise’s first free-standing location in Newington. The 1,600-square-foot location at 2391 Berlin Turnpike is next door to Puerta Vallarta Mexican Restaurant.
Francis Garcia and cousin Sal Basille founded the “New York-style” pizza company in 2008 in Manhattan’s East Village. Today, the chain has 14 locations nationwide, and additional franchised locations are currently being built in New Jersey, Connecticut and California.
The chain is known for its casual pizza concept, and serves thick crust pizza slices and whole pies.
Artichoke partners with Virginia-based franchise development company Fransmart, which also works with fast-casual restaurants Five Guys and The Halal Guys.
This story has been updated
