Puente Pub in Farmington: a cross-cultural bridging of Latin and American flavors

Luis Vazquez was born and raised in Puerto Rico, with one Puerto Rican grandmother and one Spanish grandmother, who both taught him to cook. Kerry Vazquez was born in Illinois and raised in Connecticut.

The couple just opened Puente Pub, an American-Latino restaurant in the Unionville section of Farmington.

“This restaurant is our story. Puerto Rico got married to Connecticut,” Luis Vazquez said.

It’s not just Puerto Rico that inspires Vazquez’s cuisine. He draws from many Latin lands — Spain, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Colombia — and blends their flavors with American flavors.

That’s the inspiration for the pub’s name. “Puente means bridge. It also means a means of connection,” he said. “We connect different cultures, after COVID, which was a rough space of silence and no social interaction.”

Since opening June 14, two dishes have especially captivated customers.

“When I was in the service, every time I came home, I had a homecoming meal of rice and chicken,” Vazquez said. At Puente, that dish is Lucy’s Plate-Licking Chicken & Sausage Rice ($18), named after his mother, with sofrito, tomato, achiote, chicken thigh and Italian sausage.

“People are going crazy over it,” he said.

Another favorite is the Papi Chulo Plate ($28), inspired by bandeja paisa from Colombia. The bellyful of protein includes sirloin steak, grilled sausage, chicharrón, rice, beans, plantains and a fried egg.

Vazquez sometimes gives dishes names to ease understanding. Chili cheese fries ($13) sounds familiar, but it is yucca fries, beef picadillo, cheddar curds and cherry peppers. Croquetas ($14) are Americanized with flavor of chicken pot pie. Empanadas ($12) may not taste like empanadas available in Connecticut, but they taste like the cheap ones he grew up eating.

“They taste like a margherita pizza,” he said.

Vazquez doesn’t like the word “fusion,” he prefers “integration.” He integrates almost every dish with cross-cultural ingredients. New York strip ($33) is served with chimichurri. Fish and chips ($21) can be New England style or Puente style, encrusted with plantain chips. Garlic shrimp ($16) is flavored with Spanish guindilla peppers.

Choripan ($14) is Argentina’s version of a hot dog, made with spicy sausage. Provoleta ($14), also from Argentina, is an appetizer of melted provolone and cheddar.

Appetizers range from a cup of soup of the day for $7 to ceviche for $17. Main dishes range from $12 for a burger or power bowl to $33 for that New York strip.

Vazquez attended the culinary program at Escuela Internacional de Tourismo. After his first cooking job, he started cooking at the governor’s residence. Then he moved to New Haven and worked at Scoozi Trattoria & Wine Bar, where he met his future wife, who worked as a server. They went back to Puerto Rico, where he resumed working for the governor.

“It was very challenging to cook for the first family, functions and banquets, working for celebrities and the press corps. The press corps is a pain in the butt,” he said.

With their son Joaquin, they later moved back to Connecticut, where Vazquez was executive chef at Sol Toro at Mohegan Sun. He later worked at Locals 8 Restaurant Group. During the pandemic, he worked as a butcher at Kane’s Market. That meat-market experience stuck with him.

“We smoke our own meats and grind our beef daily for burgers,” Vazquez said.

The couple’s second son, Mateo, was born here. The family lives in Canton.

Now Vazquez has achieved his goal of running his own restaurant. “Luis was dying to cook whatever he wants to cook,” Kerry Vazquez said.

Kerry is a trained artist. “First and foremost, that is my passion,” she said. She created some of the artworks on the walls at Puente, including a painting of a brilliantly red Puerto Rican flamboyan tree. Kerry wrote and illustrated a children’s book about the tooth fairy, which she hopes to get published after the hubbub of opening Puente subsides.

In the meantime, the Vazquezes are showing the Farmington Valley a new version of “American cuisine.

“People struggle with what American cuisine is. American cuisine is not apple pie. It could be the second- or third-generation Thai restaurant down the street,” Luis said. “America is a melting pot. American cuisine as a whole is expanding to eating other things. People are more adventurous now.”

Puente Pub is open Tuesday to Sunday, with lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.; “almost dinner” (apps and small plates) from 3 to 5 p.m.; and dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday and 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed Monday. Starting on July 9, brunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekends. puentepub.com.

Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.