That was two years ago and during the intervening months, Nick and Giovanna have been hard at work constructing their dream. When it opens in late January, the Estate on Coffee Creek will be an intimate and elegant restaurant that seats only 25 guests. The first floor of the 5,000-square-foot, 19th-century Italianate is broken up into four cozy dining rooms, if you could call them that. The largest can accommodate about a dozen close friends; the smallest, just two couples.

Luxe touches like Tiffany-style chandeliers, stained-glass windows, a marble fireplace mantel and warm mahogany trim imbue the space with old-world charm; the house was built by a returning gold-rusher and it looks that way. Tempering that gaudy opulence are playful touches like faux-snakeskin wallpaper, a menagerie of wall-mounted taxidermy and a porthole cut into the floor that peers into the wine cellar.