Everytime we walked past The Bank Restaurant & Bar on downtown Wheaton's main strip, we find ourselves wondering the same thing: When is this alleged spot actually opening? All that suspense ("coming soon" signs teased locals since late 2006) has been tastefully halted with its October 1 opening.

When Cassata took us on a sneak-peek tour in late September, a busy crew was putting on the finishing touches: Beer and liquor was being hauled in to stock the bar, welders sent sparks flying as they finished up metalwork, and a clueless Comcast dude wandered around trying to hook up several large plasmas.

The locale: Most Wheatonites recognize this site as the long vacant former Blockbuster space, but it was actually the first location of historic (and now defunct) Gary Wheaton Bank back in 1875. Wisely, relics of the era have been preserved and seem perfectly in place next to the classy butter-yellow walls, walnut wainscotting and deep green-striped booths. A huge banner from the bank's opening found in the attic was restored to the tune of $10,000 and now hangs on the wall of the restaurant's indoor-outdoor dining area. Head down a sweeping spiral staircase to the basement bar and dining room and you'll see the buildings original flagstone foundation walls. Two basement vaults have been cleverly converted into a red wine cellar and beer cooler.

The chef: Lombard resident Cassata has culinary clout in the 'burbs and the city. Known for contemporary American cuisine with global influences, foodies will recognize him from Eclectic in Barrington and Naperville's 10 West, which both earned 3-star reviews from the Chicago Tribune. A couple years back, he opened health-focused, quick-serve Spa Cafe downtown in The Loop, which he left this March to develop The Bank.

The eats: The approach is casual-upscale, with a "come for dinner, stay for a drink" aim, says Cassata. Eye-catchers include the Hawaiian purple sweet potato soup with lime-Togorashi (Japanese chili powder) cream ($4-$6) and seafood lasagna layered with coconut-curry sauce ($19). There's a fair amount of game on the menu, too, from the wild boar taquito appetizer ($9) to the daily preparation of Broken Arrow Ranch venison ($28) and seared duck with pickled root veggies ($21). Steak and seafood entrees contrast a well-rounded list of more relaxed gourmet sandwiches (most on brioche or pretzel hoagies), including a tasty-sounding hand-packed crab cake with mango chutney on foccacia ($10).

A heavy bank theme for the menu has been toned down from earlier incarnations. "Originally, we were going for bank names, but we're kinda getting over that now," Cassata told us earlier this summer. "You get caught up in the gooniness of it all, and now we're looking at stuff and going, 'What the hell were we thinking?' A few financially themed names remain, like The Dollar, for example, tops a baked portobello mushroom with provolone and red sauce ($8); The Bank Manager pairs Angus steak with yellow-tomato marinara-topped potato-habanero ravioli ($16).

The short-but-creative dessert menu features brownie and milkshake flights as well as the Angel/Devil, a duo of black-pepper angel food cake and chocolate red-wine devil's food cake with a liqueur-laden "drunken strawberry compote" ($6). Intrigued about that last part? We were too. "I take fresh strawberries and slice them, mix in candied lemon, lime and orange zests," Cassata explains. "The zests are blanched three times, then cooked in simple syrup --- [and] mix brown sugar with creme de banana, amaretto and a splash of tequila." Can we say, "yum?"

The drinks: Among the 15 beers on tap you'll find Guiness, Warsteiner and Boddington's, and all Hacienda house wines are served by the 8-ounce quartino ($6.50-$7.50) or bottle ($19-$29). And with the recent trend of $10-plus martinis taking the 'burbs by storm, we were happy to see $6 pomtini and appletini specials on the bar chalkboard.

Lisa Arnett is a metromix special contributor.