Inn at Duck Creek restaurant-tavern opening in Smyrna

SMYRNA – Arriving at a party before the hosts are ready to welcome guests could be perceived as bad manners.

But Howard Johnson and Donna Ignasz, business partners in The Inn at Duck Creek along with investor Robin Burris, can’t wait to show visitors around the new restaurant they plan to open Wednesday for dinner service.

The 100-seat casual tavern and more upscale farm-to-table eatery in three adjoining 18th-century buildings at East Commerce and North Main streets, an intersection known as Smyrna’s Four Corners, has been in the works since 2014.

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While most of the major restorations have been completed, Johnson and Ignasz know the devil is in the details.

As workers on Monday completed paint touchups both inside and out and the aroma of polyurethane hung heavily in the air, the partners talked about running through a lengthy to-do list that included rearranging furniture, hanging artwork, replacing a chandelier light bulb, unfolding linens and setting tables in six dining rooms.

All five gas fireplaces will roar to life, eventually, but the lines still need to be connected. For now, the hearths will be filled with plants.

More tweaks will be made to the site in the coming weeks, but the “soft” opening is set for Wednesday and Johnson says he has already accepted reservations for New Year’s Eve. Reservations must be made for the restaurant, but walk-ins are welcome in the tavern.

“We’re a little nervous, but we’ll be OK,” Johnson says. “We just want to make sure we don’t disappoint anyone.”

The building’s owner Edward H. Ide, who runs i3a, a Smyrna engineering and construction management firm, is still working on the exterior and plans to remove paint and expose the building’s brick. Ide has purchased and rehabbed several historic buildings in the area.

The Inn at Duck Creek menu created by executive chef Chris Rauber, formerly of the Gladstone (N.J.) Tavern, will be somewhat smaller in the first few weeks of the opening, but it will grow as the staff relaxes into a groove and finds its comfort zone.

“We don’t want to overpromise and under deliver,” says Ignasz. The menu will be posted on the website, www.theinnatduckcreek.com

As with any new restaurant, and especially historic buildings, there have been some hiccups and delays along the way. The partners have been nudging along the project in Smyrna’s historic downtown for about 1 1/2 years and initially hoped to open last summer.

It look a while before a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded to the town came through. And most recently, Ignasz had a spill down some steps of her home on Dec. 23 and broke her ankle. But it didn’t stop her from gamely hobbling up and down one of the restaurant’s staircases – there’s also a handicap accessible entrance – and darting in and out of the tavern and the dining rooms, pointing out new details and updates in what had once been a construction zone.

Ignasz shows off a portrait of Smyrna barber Vance Cole that now hangs in the tavern area. The bar area, with its 10 seats and surrounding tables, had once housed the barbershop Cole opened when President Dwight D. Eisenhower was in office and ran for nearly 50 years.

Nearby, Ignasz shows copies of vintage photos of Smyrna she found in the Delaware State Archives.

For the past few months, the partners have been scouring antique shops and auctions for pieces to decorate the restaurant. Slowly, the decor has come together. A new stained glass window at the staircase landing fit perfectly, Ignasz says. Johnson shows off an antique chandelier that once hung in a Wilmington home.

Each dining room tells a story. The bottom floor showcases the Governor’s Room and features a portrait of Smyrna resident William Temple, who at age 32 in 1846, became the youngest governor to serve the state.

Town residents have sponsored other dining rooms, including the Covert Room, Bailey Room, Reed Room and the Ide Room. One is still available. (For $3,000, you can have a room named after you and have a say in its decor.) The Smyrna Garden Club decorated for the holiday season, and greens, holly and bows decorate mantels, window sills and staircase railings.

Johnson seems most proud of the elegant dining rooms chairs purchased from a Cambridge, Maryland, warehouse. He and his partners then sanded, stained and put polyurethane on more than 40 chairs. They then sent the chairs to the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center, a prison facility for men in Smyrna, where inmates did the upholstery.

“It was a third of what it would have cost if we bought them new,” Johnson says. “We had a budget and we had to maintain it. A project like this [restoration] would usually be about $1 to $2 million. We spent $300,000.”

“It was a tough, hard project. We hope we did something to benefit the revitalization of downtown,” Johnson says and then marvels at the surroundings.

“This is so much more than we ever anticipated.”

Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 orptalorico@delawareonline.com. Read her culinary blog Second Helpings atwww.delawareonline.com/blog/secondhelpings and follow her on Twitter@pattytalorico

IF YOU GO:

What: The Inn at Duck Creek, a tavern and upscale farm-to-table restaurant created inside three 18th-century refurbished buildings at an intersection known as Smyrna’s Four Corners. The restaurant plans to open for dinner on Wed., Dec. 30.

Where: 2 N. Main St., Smyrna

Hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Tues.-Wed.; 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Thurs.-Sat.; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sun. Closed Monday.

Information: Reservations are highly suggested. Walk-ins are welcome in the tavern. Call (302) 389-6700 or visit theinnatduckcreek.com