History again inspired Vic Christopher and Heather LaVine.

Two years ago the Troy couple rehabbed a downtown building into a wine bar and named it the Lucas Confectionery, after a business that occupied the space for almost a century. Their next venture, due in early January at 217 Broadway, around the corner from the wine bar, is a restaurant called Peck’s Arcade, a nod to the department store that opened on the site in 1883.

With its menu of contemporary fare focused on small-plate dishes that reflect eclectic global influences (partial preview here), the restaurant is part of a national trend — the casualization of fine dining. The food and the cocktails (partial preview here) are as ingredient-driven as at posh temples of gastronomy, but the atmosphere and attitude are far less formal. On the ground floor (behind the couple above right), which will be reserved for dining, whether at tables, the bar or another bar facing the open kitchen, Peck’s Arcade contrasts rustic brick and exposed metal with clean, spare lines that suggest Scandinavian design; several upstairs rooms, anchored by a brick-walled bar, will be for socializing.

Opening day is scheduled for Jan. 7, though Christopher and LaVine expect to hold preview parties for Peck’s Arcade. Also, the public will be able to get a look at the space, and sample the talents of the head chef, Nick Ruscitto, on Thursday (12/18), when, for one night starting at 5 p.m., 217 Broadway will become a pop-up restaurant called Tavern Noodle. Featuring pork and vegetarian ramen bowls and a few other Asian-influenced items as well as select drinks, Tavern Noodle is a reprise of a pop-up held Dec. 7, during Troy’s Victorian Stroll, when Tavern Noodle served about 300 dishes in a little more than two hours.

Peck’s Arcade shares a covered rear courtyard with the Lucas Confectionery and Christopher and LaVine’s third business, a gourmet shop called The Grocery, and The Grocery and Peck’s are connected by a hallway that accesses the stairs to the second-floor bar.

“The connectivity is a cool thing,” said Christopher. “You could explore … all of the spaces” — both floors of Peck’s, market, wine bar and courtyard — “and have a different experience in each.” The Confectionery’s New Year’s Eve party will do just that, allowing guests to move freely throughout.

Christopher and LaVine bought the large building that houses Peck’s Arcade and The Grocery in March 2013, four months after opening their wine bar. Officially designated as 207-217 Broadway, the building encompasses nearly 11,000 square feet over four floors. The purchase price was $80,000, and Christopher says another $300,000 has been spent so far, on everything from structural restoration to readying the space to become Peck’s Arcade. They have no immediate plans for the upper two floors.

The coupe originally wanted to call the restaurant The Tavern, after the venerable watering hole that occupied the space from the 1930 to the ’90s, but became enchanted with the name Peck’s Arcade when they received a few of the department store’s promotional postcards from a Troy resident. (They later tracked down more from as far away as Greece.)

“We had a lot of historical information about the confectionery,” said Christopher. “Peck’s Arcade was much more of a head-scratching curiosity, especially the really bizarre marketing.” (One postcard, promoting the store’s “bargain days,” is illustrated with a goat-drawn wagon chasing a peacock.) Said Christopher, “The name just stuck with me.”

Peck’s Arcade will be open for dinner Wednesday through Saturday, a schedule allowing the same team to work together every day.

“(Customers) can expect to see the same faces all the time,” said LaVine. “When you’re open seven days, it’s a challenge to maintain the same consistency.”

The couple, who are vegetarians, had considered offering an exclusively vegetarian menu but opted for many dishes that are vegetarian and gluten-free and others that incorporate meat and fish as complements, not centerpieces.

“Being vegetable-focused instead of strictly vegetarian allows the restaurant to be more accessible to everyone,” says LaVine. “That’s the way it is at the Confectionery, and we wanted to continue that.”

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Peck’s Arcade

What: Casual fine-dining restaurant

Where: 217 Broadway, Troy

Opens: Jan. 7; thereafter, dinner from 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday

Info: www.pecksarcade.com or www.facebook.com/pecksarcade

Previews: The pop-up restaurant Tavern Noodle in the Peck’s space, featuring ramen bowls, will be open 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday (12/18), or earlier if food runs out. Other soft-opening events will be announced later.