Gina Luari’s The Statement Group is expanding again, as she plans to open PITA, an upscale Mediterranean restaurant in Glastonbury, next spring.
PITA is taking the space formerly home to Max Amore at 140 Glastonbury Boulevard in the Somerset Square retail and lifestyle center, Luari confirmed Thursday. The Italian restaurant by Max Hospitality closed in 2019 after 25 years in business, and has been vacant ever since.
“I am really excited about it, because I do have an Albanian background, so it’s the food that I grew up on. I’m very, very excited to be able to put my take on it,” Luari said.
Gina Luari, CEO of the Statement Group, which owns and operates The Place 2 Be brunch concepts in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Courtesy of The Place 2 BeLuari’s group is known for The Place 2 Be brunch restaurants, with social media-friendly branding and decor, with locations in Hartford, West Hartford, New Haven and Springfield, Massachusetts. She also opened RAW* in Hartford in May, an edgy seafood concept with raw bar offerings, sushi and shellfish dishes and an interior featuring graffiti art, aqua-colored neon lights and industrial elements.
PITA will present a more “elegant” Mediterranean style, Luari said, with a warm feel featuring terracotta tones, wood and uplighting. With an open kitchen concept, she plans to install a new oven in Max Amore’s pizza oven space, where the kitchen team will bake fresh pita bread on site. The restaurant will have a hummus bar, with assorted hummus flavors and toppings, and guests will also see meats cooking on spits, she said.
An entrance to The Shops at Somerset Square, a Glastonbury lifestyle center. The retail center will be adding four new tenants next year.
Contributed photoPITA’s cuisine will pull from the Balkan countries in southern Europe, Luari said, with a lot of inspiration from her family’s Albanian culture. She envisions lots of shareable plates, salads, dishes featuring vegetables, fish and lamb; gyros and spreads like spicy whipped feta and tzatziki.
“It’s going to capture a wide variety of foods that are popular within that region,” she said.
Luari also plans “an incredible bar” with Mediterranean wines and unique cocktails, and she hopes to expand the former Max Amore patio, installing bifold doors to maximize the indoor and outdoor spaces during the warm months.
Luari said she’s excited to bring the Mediterranean dining concept to Glastonbury as a new upscale offering for the area, which now offers more casual takeout Greek restaurants like Tapas and Gyro Love. She also chose to introduce PITA in the Somerset Square plaza rather than an additional The Place 2 Be location, she said, as Glastonbury Boulevard is home to more lunch and dinner-focused eateries like Max Fish, Maggie McFly’s and J. Gilbert’s.
Frozen sangria pouches at The Place 2 Be in West Hartford
Lisa Nichols / Hearst CT MediaPITA will join two other restaurants planned for the Somerset Square lifestyle center, officials announced this week. Bareburger Kitchen & Bar, an East Coast burger chain with Connecticut locations in Ridgefield and Stamford, will open in the first quarter of 2024. Social Lounge, a casual lounge opening next to Max Fish, will focus on small plates, flatbreads, craft cocktails and specialty menu items and is scheduled to open in late 2023, according to a press release.
Meanwhile, Luari’s Statement Group keeps growing, with the addition of a The Place 2 Be location in Dallas. The Texas restaurant is “a month away,” she said, and another Hartford restaurant, Charred, will open in a former firehouse at 275 Pearl Street. Its menu will offer brick-oven pizza, craft beer and cocktails.
Crab fried rice at RAW* in downtown Hartford, from the owners of The Place 2 Be.
Courtesy of The Statement Group / RAW*The Charred building is being converted into apartments and retail space, Luari said, with a hopeful opening date “no later than summer 2024.”
The group is also getting closer to opening its bakery in West Hartford’s Blue Back Square, which will produce breads and baked goods for The Place 2 Be restaurants. Luari said the bakery will likely open in early 2024.