A new CT restaurant’s menu will mix Latin flavors with American favorites. Here’s what to expect.

The partners in a new restaurant planned for an entertainment district have ties that go back more than a generation to Peru where their mothers were childhood friends, both eventually immigrating to America.

Jeff Valdiviezo arrived first, nearly three decades ago, at the age of 4. His partner in the new restaurant and bar in Hartford’s Front Street District, Christian Narro, relocated eight years ago, more of a newcomer.

Together, they plan to open Triple Three at the corner of Arch Street and Columbus Boulevard, the former Blind Pig Pizza Co. space and the site of a controversial proposal last year for an adult-use cannabis shop.

The partners envision a menu that taps heavily into their Peruvian backgrounds, but also brings a broader Latin flavor to its offerings, plus some American favorites.

“There’s a lot of Peruvian restaurants,” Valdiviezo said, in a tour of the space this week. “I think the Peruvian population keeps growing, so that’s why so many restaurants have been opening. So we wanted to still make it Peruvian, but we’re going to add some Mexican flavor.”

According to the General Counsel of Peru in Hartford, the Peruvian population has more than doubled in Connecticut since 2000, with strong concentrations in and around such cities as Hartford, Bridgeport, Stamford and Norwalk. In 2020, there was an estimated Peruvian population of 20,955 in Connecticut, the U.S. Census reported.

‘A good flow of people’

While Triple Three’s menu is still being developed, the expected hybrid approach could place offerings such as tacos and quesadillas alongside Arroz Chaufa, a Peruvian fried rice dish, and chicken tenders.

Prices would be in line with the nearby Plan b Burger Bar, where many menu items are under $20. Triple Three would provide a lower-cost alternative to the area’s upscale Capital Grille steakhouse and the expected arrival of Carbone’s Ristorante later in 2024.

Valdiviezo said he believes the market for Triple Three is strengthening in the aftermath of the pandemic. Convention business is recovering and there is the draw to attractions such as Infinity Music Hall and the Science Center of Connecticut. There also are workers returning to insurer Travelers Cos. and the seasonal addition of college students at the Hartford regional campus of the University of Connecticut.

Earlier this year, Valdiviezo rented an apartment at the Front Street Lofts apartments and has kept an eye on foot traffic.

“I feel like its a good flow of people,” Valdiviezo said.

Triple Three expects to open in about three months, and the partners expect to invest $150,000 of their own money getting the restaurant open, Valdiviezo said.

Entrepreneurial family

Narro, 26, brings the restaurant experience to the new venture. Narro is now a partner in the Forbidden Llama, a Peruvian-American restaurant that opened last year in Middletown. But Narro points the familiarity with the Hartford market as a former partner in the Flaming Llama on Franklin Avenue. He also worked at both the Rockin Chicken and Piolin, both Peruvian-styled restaurants with locations in Hartford.

Triple Three will be Valdiviezo’s first foray into the hospitality business.

A mechanical engineer, Valdiviezo, 32, said he left that career after being laid off by an aerospace company during the pandemic. He started a transportation company — his father had been in the business — starting out with two trucks and, in the last two years, expanded the fleet to nine. His company, New Britain-based Smooth Logistics, won a contract to make home deliveries for home improvement giants Home Depot and Lowe’s.

Stepping into the restaurant business isn’t such a stretch because his family is entrepreneurial, Valdiviezo said.

When Valdiviezo’s family lived in Florida, his mother ran a laundromat and his father operated a car dealership.

“Everything was just business,” Valdiviezo said. “My mother, right now, owns like nine houses around in Hartford, New Britain. So even though I’m an engineer, I always had the business mindset behind me. I’m not afraid to go into this.”

Valdiviezo said, “I’m learning everything, all the steps to how to set everything up. These are the stepping stones right now to putting everything together.”

Cannabis sales opposed

Triple Three’s lease goes back to February. But the project got put on hold while the Capital Region Development Authority, the quasi-public state agency that oversees Front Street, negotiated to purchase the building, at 89 Arch St.

The Arch Street property turned controversial in 2022 when CRDA opposed recreational marijuana sales in Front Street, arguing the shop would be inconsistent with the area’s family-focused entertainment. The opposition put CRDA at odds with the city of Hartford, which had supported marijuana sales at the location. Ultimately, city lawyers ruled that CRDA controlled zoning matters within the Front Street district and not the city.

The city had said the cannabis shop met Hartford’s zoning requirements, would boost tourism and foot traffic, and encourage entrepreneurial, innovative businesses. The cannabis shop proposal was later withdrawn.

In October, CRDA said it had acquired the building for $650,000.

The name Triple Three originally reflected that there were supposed to be three partners, but one had to step away from the project. However, the name also is connected with the “angel numbers,” part of numerology that gives certain sequences of numbers, certain meanings. The belief is that the numbers are signs from the spiritual universe that offer insight, wisdom and direction.

“The numbers 333 bring good luck,” Valdiviezo said.

Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.