Everything is prepped fresh, with ingredients out on display in the main dining area. (Blaine Callahan)

Every restaurant has a story.

With thousands of choices for food and drink in Connecticut, it can be hard to know where to start looking. A fantastic restaurant might be right under your nose and you won’t even know it exists.

All that great food often pairs well with an even greater tale. There’s a hole-in-the-wall spot that started off as a food truck, a brewery built atop a dairy farm, and a restaurant that opened it’s own drive-in theater. And that’s just scratching the surface.

There’s no end of stories to share in Connecticut’s vibrant restaurant scene. That’s why we’re starting a new series to try and tell them all: Quick Bites.

Kicking things off is First and Last Tavern in Hartford with their long history in Connecticut’s capital, and it’s all told in the plethora of photos that hang on their walls.

If you’ve spent time in Hartford, you might be familiar with First and Last Tavern.

If you’ve grown up in the area, you’ve more than likely visited at least once.

“It’s one of the oldest restaurants in the state,” says Patrick DePasquale, owner of First and Last Tavern. “It’s been there since 1936.”

While most folks living in Hartford today might not have much memory or experience with a post-Depression Hartford, you probably have had parents or grandparents who did. Plumbers, electricians, and other 9-to-5, five day a week workers who walked the city’s streets and made due with what they had. It wasn’t an easy era for anybody, but it’s when the Dimella’s First and Last Tavern opened its doors.

“The name derives from it being the first tavern you’d see when you entered Hartford and the last one you’d see when you left,” says DePasquale. “It opened after Prohibition.”

Patrick DePasquale and his family have helped run First and Last Tavern for over 30 years and counting. (Blaine Callahan)

According to DePasquale, the hole-in-the-wall tavern saw a lot of traffic even way back when. Tradespersons often stopped in for a quick lunch or after work for dinner. Without a full kitchen, the menu was limited to no more than a dozen or so options.

“One of our popular menu items from that time is the Number 13. It’s shells with a sausage and a meatball with a small salad, all served on the same plate. We have the 14, too, which is the same dish but with angel hair pasta. They still do well; it’s a quick lunch or dinner.”

Along with a basic liquor license, letting the tavern serve beer and wine, First and Last Tavern carved out its market in Hartford and kept things moving decade after decade.

In time, however, the Dimella’s were ready to sell.

The photo hanging by the raw bar and First and Last Tavern is several dozen years back in Hartford's history. (Blaine Callahan)

“My father’s family was in the restaurant business years ago,” says DePasquale. “They had DePasquales Restaurant on Front Street. It’s where Constitution Plaza is now. That’s where a lot of our old pictures come from in our restaurant.”

It was a clear decision to pick up the storied, Hartford tavern. They purchased the business in the early 1980s. It didn’t take long until an expansion was made.

“It used to be connected to an apartment building before we expanded it. There’s even photos on the wall all the way back in 1989 when the made the renovations.”

What was once a cozy tavern now had a full-service kitchen and a patented brick oven that rotates as it cooks.

It was more than his father’s handiwork, however, that made the newly expanded First and Last Tavern a smash hit with customers.

Hungry for a classic? The Number 13 has shells, sauce, a sausage, a meatball, and a side of salad, all on the same plate. (Blaine Callahan)

DePasquale’s mother, Diane, put in over 20 years of hardwork and dedication managing the restaurant. She was a familiar face to regulars, and took care of her patrons and staff. Even today, after taking a step back, you’re likely to find her helping out however she can.

“We’ve had really good people here,” says DePasquale. “We had a bartender that worked here for over 50 years. We have multiple servers with 25 and more years of service.”

As he puts it, “It’s a generational restaurant. Multiple layers of families that have come to the restaurant over the years. We’ve had employees whose kids later came to work here and get customers all over the state.”

Pizzas are prepped right in the main dining area at First and Last Tavern.

At its core, First and Last Tavern is a family business. You see it in the myriad of photos on the walls. Some are from politicians and standout figures, like Al Gore and John Madden. Many more are of the DePasquales and of Hartford. They catalog the history of First and Last Tavern and the city it was born in.

Even now, after a challenging pandemic, First and Last Tavern and the DePasquales are here to stay for the foreseeable future.

“It’s been a challenging couple years for everyone, but people seem to be bouncing back.”

First and Last Tavern is located at 939 Maple Ave in Hartford.