After seeing the sleek interiors he had done for the Rainbow Cleaners next door, brothers Rob and Chris Buccini brought in Todd Tully Danner of Arquitecture to design Thorobreads Café in Wilmington, Delaware. But unbeknownst to first-time restaurant designer Danner, they didn’t want the same type of look. "The owners didn’t really offer any kind of brief, but just asked what could we do with the space. So I went into design mode and flushed out a modern companion to the cleaners," he explains. "They thought I was way off base. That’s when they really gave me a brief."

Having completed two residential towers in a brown site redevelopment area nearby, the Buccini brothers wanted a restaurant that could be the "hearth" of the community. "A place where people could gather and see their neighbors and just hang out," Danner explains. "The owners both lived in New York City and loved the feeling of Balthazar and an article that was written about what it was for the community."

With no name and no operator for inspiration, Danner went back to the drawing board. "Having grown up in the rural country of Southern New Jersey and gone to school in Greenville, Delaware, I was brought up in a world of primitive antiques of New Jersey and the regal styles of the DuPonts. I am however trained as a modernist," he says. "The solution that I found was to create an eclectic blend of my modern gestures with classic and primitive pieces in a warm environment."

To that end, copper accents prevail, Louis Poulsen PH Artichoke lamps hang over a farm table made from recycled lumber that’s lined by Kartell Louis XVI Ghost chairs, and walnut flooring runs up the walls. Antique frames and an antique bar are now done in black, pieces by Eames and Karim Rashid mingle throughout the 1,200-square-foot space, and a Victorian couch from a local shop in a nearby town now dons a funky orange fabric. "It is a piece that I get asked about by everyone that comes in," says Danner.

But the finishing touches weren’t done till the name was decided. The Buccini brothers also own a hotel in Baltimore and within it there is a small coffee station named Thorobreads, inspired by the surrounding horse country of Maryland. "So they wanted to roll the case out as a horse themed venture to tie the two different entities together. Fortunately the copper, woods, and antiques lent themselves perfectly for this idea,” explains Danner. To further enhance it, he scoured eBay and found an old horseshoe chain puzzle, mint julep cups, and prints of famous thoroughbreds. He also found a Midwest artist that photographs horses in a modern, Wes Anderson-style, and had him make prints to fit the antique frames. And accent pillows "allowed us to add a little bit of a modern touch to things with abstract prints of grass and flowers," he says.