Daniella Colburn, Irina Colburn, Miriam Barchi and Todd Meyerhofer at the entrance of The Restaurant at Jacksonville Inn.

Five months since the historic Jacksonville Inn restaurant served its final customer, the clinking of stemware and the aroma of gourmet dishes have returned to the landmark dining room.

The new restaurant at the Jacksonville Inn officially opened Wednesday. 

A look inside the basement-level eatery this week showed an updated space thanks to the elbow grease of former Napa Valley chef Todd Meyerhofer and his fiancé, restaurant manager and sommelier Miriam Barchi.

The couple came to the Rogue Valley during the pandemic in 2021 to help family members open Decant, a restaurant in Medford. Meyerhofer said the couple almost headed back to California earlier this year, but then they learned a beloved local restaurant was closing.

Newly minted bar manager Irina Colburn had taken her mom, Barchi, to the Jacksonville Inn for dinner during one of their visits here over the past dozen years.

Longtime restaurateur Jerry Evans and his wife, who opened the Jacksonville Inn in 1967, closed shop Jan. 7 after almost five decades. When they heard the restaurant had closed, Meyerhofer and Barchi decided to stay and reopen the local favorite. Close proximity to children and grandchildren was an incentive, too.

On Wednesday, piles of familiar red carpet and dusty lamps from the familiar old restaurant had been swapped out for elegant table settings, string lighting and new cloth napkins and stemware. Freshly laundered, pale-cream chair covers neatly camouflaged the faded, half-century-old red chair cushions.

Meyerhofer and local contractor Randy Howard, Colburn’s husband, spent the past several months, sometimes with help from family and friends, renovating the dining space, resurfacing tables and swapping out endless amounts of early 1900s red dinner-house décor.

Meyerhofer and Barchi said they sought to find balance between paying tribute to what once was while making the space their own.

The restaurant reopened quietly last week so some initial hiccups could be smoothed out. Construction had lasted slightly longer than expected, Colburn said. A dining reservations website listed the restaurant under the wrong name. Confusion over OLCC licensing created additional opening-week chaos.

“We wanted to open in time for this year’s Britt Festival. We made it on opening day,” Colburn said. When rain showers poured onto the outside patio, Colburn said she joked of the potentially lucky omen. “When it rains on your wedding day, it’s lucky. Maybe that translates over for a new restaurant, too?”

Colburn runs the bar, while Barchi serves as general manager and head sommelier. Colburn’s daughter, 17-year-old Daniella Colburn, a high school junior and lead hostess, will help to train some of the restaurant’s 30 new employees.

Barchi smiled as she spoke Wednesday of three generations of women in her family running a restaurant together. Born and raised in Florence, Italy, to restaurateur parents, she started working in the family restaurant, called La Tavalozza, at 10 years old.

Barchi said her inspiration for the new eatery was partially in tribute to La Giostra, her favorite restaurant in Florence. The restaurant is tucked beneath “16th-century brick arches,” offering dishes such as pear ravioli, balsamic steak and wild boar pasta.

Some unique offerings at the new restaurant, Meyerhofer said, are a nod to wine country and the old country, while solidly showcasing locally grown meats and produce.

Some featured offerings will include Williams-based Plaisance Ranch beef, and offerings from Applegate-based Troon Vineyard, which will provide local wines and organic produce.

A “snacks” category on the new menu includes caviar, marinated olives, foie gras and ceviche.

Asparagus soup, endive-Watercress salad and heirloom beet salad are featured on the “soups and salads” menu.

The appetizer lineup includes Beef Carpaccio; grilled shrimp with Corona beans and sofrito; grilled octopus with chorizo foam, confit potato and salsa verde; ahi tuna tostada with avocado and mango.

Entrees range from $28 to $56. Dishes include Potato Crusted Halibut, Duet of Pork and New York Pave. A duck entree includes lavender honey, cherries and polenta. And there’s a house-made spinach pasta, among other offerings.

A lineup of specialty drinks, such as Passion Fruit Mojito and Blood Orange “Margtini,” will supplement a slew of local wines offered alongside Italian and French wines.

Colburn said the restaurant would release its bistro menu after Father’s Day, offering lighter, lunch-friendly items such as burgers and chicken tenders “with a twist.”

In addition to the fine dining area, which seats 70, the bar area offers room for 36 diners, and the outdoor bistro area seats 78.

With Barchi troubleshooting a strand of lights Wednesday, Colburn smiled as she looked around.

The restaurant will be open every day except Tuesday, which is when her family will enjoy its weekly family dinner. On days the restaurant is open, Colburn said, employees and owners will sit down for a meal between lunch and dinner shifts for “family time.”

“We provide family mealtime for our staff every night we’re open. It gives us a chance to bond and be together when things aren’t as crazy,” she said.

Colburn said she looked forward to providing a quality dining experience with top-notch service.

“We believe in food being passion and art. My grandfather was an artist and a chef, so he collaborated those two worlds very well. We’re hoping to carry on the tradition,” she said.

Colburn said the location inside the historic Jacksonville Inn was unbeatable.

“It’s definitely a prime location,” she said with a smile. “Whenever we talked about opening a restaurant, this is always what I envisioned.”

The restaurant is open from 5-9 p.m. Wednesday through Monday, possibly an hour earlier on Britt Festival days. Lunchtime hours, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., will be added in July.

For more information, see eatjvilleinn.com.

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