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Jul 12, 2023

Americana in West Hartford features American and Mexican comfort food

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Americana Restaurant & Bar opened on West Hartford's Park Road in April, featuring a something-for-everyone menu of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, salads, tacos, pastas, seafood and steaks.

Americana Restaurant & Bar on West Hartford's Park Road in April, featuring a something-for-everyone menu of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, salads, tacos, pastas, seafood and steaks.

Americana in West Hartford offers a full slate of pastas like fettuccine Alfredo, carbonara, chicken Milanese and shrimp scampi.

Americana Restaurant & Bar opened on West Hartford's Park Road in April, featuring a something-for-everyone menu of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, salads, tacos, pastas, seafood and steaks.

Americana Restaurant & Bar opened on West Hartford's Park Road in April, featuring a something-for-everyone menu of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, salads, tacos, pastas, seafood and steaks.

In the past few years, Enrique and Julie Rodriguez have built a collection of fast-casual concepts, featuring Mexican and Puerto Rican cuisine and Nashville hot chicken, in Hartford and New Britain. For their first full-service restaurant, they decided to focus on American comfort fare and cocktails.

The couple opened Americana Restaurant & Bar on West Hartford's Park Road in April, featuring a something-for-everyone menu of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, salads, tacos, pastas, seafood and steaks. The restaurant's full bar features both modern and Prohibition-era cocktails, craft beer with several selections from Connecticut breweries and a focus on American wines.

Americana Restaurant & Bar opened on West Hartford's Park Road in April, featuring a something-for-everyone menu of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, salads, tacos, pastas, seafood and steaks.

The Rodriguezes own and operate the Las Tortas MX, Burrito Loko, Fowl Play hot chicken and MofonGo vendor stalls at Hartford's Parkville Market, as well as Las Tortas, Burrito Loko and Fowl Play outposts at New Britain's Assembly Room. They also opened a Burrito Loko and MofonGo Express location near Central Connecticut State University last year.

The Americana project came together quickly once the couple leased the former JAR + Bar space in January, said general manager Nikki Rinaldi, who knew Enrique and Julie from their days working at the Cheesecake Factory in West Hartford. Rinaldi runs the restaurant operations, while Scott Wawryzniak, the bar manager, oversees the beverage program and is working on building Americana's bourbon and tequila offerings.

Americana's appetizer menu features classic pub fare like wings, chicken nachos, fried pickles and prime rib or cheeseburger sliders, along with made-to-order guacamole and chicken nachos with a signature chili con queso. Burgers and sandwiches are served with waffle fries, and a weekday $16 lunch special offers a choice of Caesar or house salad with a half serving of select pasta dishes.

Americana Restaurant & Bar on West Hartford's Park Road in April, featuring a something-for-everyone menu of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, salads, tacos, pastas, seafood and steaks.

Main dishes include crab cakes, grilled salmon, NY strip and pork chops, along with a full slate of pastas like fettuccine Alfredo, carbonara, chicken Milanese and shrimp scampi. Rinaldi singled out a spicy pasta dish in particular, featuring shrimp, broccolini, asparagus and cherry tomatoes.

The menu also features Mexican influences thanks to Enrique Rodriguez's heritage, Rinaldi said, calling dishes like birria tacos and a carne asada entree "to die for." The slow-cooked beef tacos are served with a side of consommé, and other tacos are prepared with marinated chicken and steak and fried mahi-mahi. Mexican street corn is also available as a a side dish.

Americana's birrita tacos are served with a side of consommé, and other tacos are prepared with marinated chicken and steak and fried mahi-mahi.

Brunch, available Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., offers omelettes and Benedicts, French toast, pancakes and specialties like chilaquiles, huevos rancheros, steak and eggs and avocado toast, topped with choice of egg or crab cake. The menu also features special cocktails, like a coffee martini made with Alvarium cold brew, rosé sangria, mimosas, a Bloody Mary and a "Bloody Irishman" with Guinness and habanero vodka.

The cocktail menu has early hits, Rinaldi and Wawryzniak said, like a blazin' blackberry bourbon drink with smoked rosemary garnish and a "Casarita" with Casamigos reposado tequila, along with a mango margarita featuring Lunazul. A seasonal cocktail list is also in the works.

Classics, like a Sazerac and Vesper with gin, vodka and Cocchi Americano, have caught customers' attention, Wawryzniak said, and he's working on building a "spirits bible" as the bar builds a collection of unique bourbons, whiskeys and tequilas.

Americana has also branched out into happy hour, offering discounted drinks and bites Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. and Monday through Thursday from 9 to 11 p.m. With hopes of building up a late-night bar crowd, Rinaldi said Americana will start hosting industry nights on Monday starting this month, working in partnership with nearby Plan b Burger Bar to offer discounts to visitors who stop at both bars.

At Americana in West Hartford, the cocktail menu has early hits, managers said, like a "Casarita" with Casamigos reposado tequila and with a mango margarita featuring Lunazul.

"A lot of people are coming here and telling me they live in the neighborhood, and this is the place they can go on a daily basis," Wawryzniak said. "So we appeal to the tequila and whiskey snobs out there, the cocktail people, the beer people, and [then] all of that can be in the same place, along with people feeling comfortable coming in here [to] the local neighborhood place."

Americana Restaurant & Bar is at 179 Park Road in West Hartford. It's open Monday through Friday at 11:30 a.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m. (860) 882-0906, americanawh.com.