For those sad to learn the Corner Pug is closing , there’s exciting news: Millwright’s executive chef Ashley Flagg will open her first restaurant in the same space.
The Laurel, slated to open early next year at 1046 New Britain Ave. in West Hartford, will feature several of Flagg’s favorite culinary dishes pairing global cuisines with local ingredients.
Flagg is still finalizing the menu for The Laurel, but she plans to offer several dishes inspired by cuisines from different parts of the world. The renowned chef said that what she enjoys most is being able to experiment with dishes and learning about different cuisines.
“I like to have the people that I work with have an influence on the menu, this way they feel more engaged,” Flagg said. “I have this amazing line cook who is Puerto Rican and Dominican and she has a ton of things on the menu. She taught us all how to make dishes we didn’t know how to do. We also had a dish washer from Ghana and we introduced a Ghanaian peanut stew which was delicious. So we will have a menu that’s changing as we go. I’m really looking forward to exploring in this new environment we’re creating.”
Flagg, who now lives in Bloomfield with her wife Rebekah, grew up just off West Hartford’s bustling New Britain Avenue in her mother’s house on South Quaker Lane. She even briefly attended Conard High School before moving to Burlington. The Laurel will be within walking distance from where she grew up.
“I grew up eating at the Corner Pug and the former Tapas,” Flagg said. “So I’m no stranger to Ted Vetter and his restaurants and I’m really proud to be going into the Corner Pug. The restaurant has been around for 25 years. We’re hoping to do the same thing and be just as successful.”
The Corner Pug , which announced it was closing after nearly 25 years in business, was a longtime staple of West Hartford’s Elmwood section. Ted Vetter took ownership of the former “corner pub” in 2000 and turned it into the “corner pug” named for his dog at the time. Tapas, another longtime Elmwood staple which Vetter owned, closed its doors in 2018. Vetter, who is 75, announced he is retiring.
“There’s so much going on in Elmwood, you’ve got some amazing restaurants like Coracora and the GastroPark off New Park Avenue,” Flagg said. “There’s such an already amazing community there and we want to help the area continue to grow.”
Elmwood, which continues to grow in recent years, has seen several new additions including food truck haven GastroPark and several well known restaurants like Frank Pepe Pizzeria at 1148 New Britain Ave. and Doro Marketplace just up the street. Flagg said that while she and her partner were originally looking to open a spot in Bloomfield, she knew that Elmwood had great potential as well. She told her realtor to reach out to Vetter about the Corner Pug location, even before she knew he was looking to retire.
“Our realtor said that you’re not going to believe this, but he’s interested in selling it,” Flagg said. “We knew that was the space we wanted.”
The Laurel is inspired by Flagg’s now 101-year-old grandmother Juana. Growing up, Flagg said she would often stay with her grandmother in Middletown, on Laurel Grove Road. The street name became the inspiration for her restaurant’s name and logo, designed by artist Jaime Jones.
“My grandmother is my best friend and she is an incredible person,” Flagg said. “She’s from Basque country in Northern Spain and at the beginning of World War II moved to Nicaragua and then Mexico. So I really got obsessed with all the places she lived and the food from where she grew up. When she got married and moved to the U.S. she learned how to cook from the Julia Child cookbook. So I grew up on French cuisine with a fusion of Spanish and Mexican.”
Flagg said that she enjoys experimenting with different cuisines to showcase global flavors and cooking techniques while using local New England ingredients. After a brief stint in social work, she found her calling as a chef working as a live-in provider teaching young women how to cook. From there, she went on to study at Lincoln Culinary Institute and trained under renowned chefs like Billy Grant.
In 2019, she was named head chef at Grant’s on Farmington Avenue in West Hartford. When Grant’s closed, Flagg became the executive chef at the Hamilton Park restaurant in New Haven where she worked with renowned chef and restaurateur Tyler Anderson. After the pandemic shut down New Haven’s restaurant scene, she moved on to Millwrights in Simsbury to work under Anderson.
Flagg said she plans to continue in her role as executive chef at Millwright’s through the end of October.
“Millwright’s is my family, there’s a lot of people there that I love,” Flagg said. “They’ve been so good to me, so I want to make sure I leave them in a good position. I’m sure I’ll also come help out around the holidays, but I’m confident Tyler will find an excellent chef for that location.”
Tyler Anderson, co-owner of Millwrights in Simsbury, told the Courant that he is proud of Flagg and will most likely fill in as executive chef until a replacement is found. Anderson said he is in “no rush” to find Flagg’s replacement after she leaves in October.
“It’s always tough to lose someone like Ashley, she’s done an amazing job and she’s a great chef,” Anderson said. “But it’s also very exciting to see people who work for you go on to do great things. Selfishly as a resident of West Hartford, I’m very excited for her restaurant to be in town. There’s a lot of pride there and of course it always stinks to lose someone so great. Ashley is certainly one of the all-stars that has graced my restaurants and it is awesome to watch her ascend.”
Flagg said she wants to keep most of the Corner Pug’s interior intact, but will make some small renovations. Construction work on the building is set for Nov. 1.
“It’s a beautiful building and I would hate to make that building not look like itself,” Flagg said. “No one has laughed at this yet, but I’ve been calling it ‘putting lipstick on the pug.’ We’re doing some painting and trying to make the bar a little bigger. There’s not going to be as many pug photos, but maybe we will leave one as an homage for Ted Vetter.”
The Corner Pug announced its last day serving food and drinks will be Aug. 17.
Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com
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