After more than a year of work, the much-anticipated Grace restaurant officially opens its doors to the public tomorrow night. It also will be open Friday, then close for the holiday weekend and reopen on Tuesday.

The baby of Anne and Peter Verrill, who own the popular Foreside Tavern in Falmouth, this casual fine dining eatery fills the historic Chestnut Street Church. You can find it on Chestnut Street between City Hall and the Chestnut Street Lofts.

I stopped by today to chat with Anne (right) and general manager Kate Tozier (left). They're standing behind the circular bar that fills the center of the church. Above, the ceiling soars to the rafters and beautiful light from the original stained glass windows bathes the space.

Here's the view from the mezzanine, with the bar below, the open kitchen at the back and a part of the lounge area visible on the left. You can see some more photos and read about the historic renovation in this excellent Press Herald story from Meredith Goad.

The kitchen is headed up by Executive Chef Eric Simeon. His sample menus include offerings such as venison meatballs with red mole sauce and cheesy grits, smoked duck breast with hibiscus-ginger jelly and cracked wheat salad and potato gnocchi with wild mushrooms, pea shoots and parmesan broth. The menus will emphasize small plates and appetizers, but with plenty of entree-sized meals. The goal is to keep prices below $30, with the apps falling in the $8-$12 range.

The restaurant seats roughly 130. Here's the view to the right of the bar with seating on both the main floor and the mezzanine.

And here's the view to the left of the bar. I love how they turned the pulpit into the hostess stand. Similar creative touches can be found throughout the space.

Downstairs, there are two function rooms. The smaller is set up for business meetings and the larger space works for weddings. Events are already being booked into these rooms (the maximum capacity is about 150 people seated without a dance floor for the larger room). You can contact event coordinator Sabin Beckwith should you want to book a function here.

Below the gorgeous stained glass window facing the street, there's a service bar on the mezzanine. There won't be seats here, but it will be a convenient place to mix drinks for diners eating on the second floor. Using Kate's special infused liquors, the bartenders will be mixing up exotic signature cocktails, such as the jalapeno, pineapple and strawberry margarita, which is a favorite at the Foreside Tavern.

Grace is located at 15 Chestnut Street, Portland. It is open Tues-Sat for dinner and serves brunch on Sunday. The bar opens at 4 pm and dinner service begins at 5 pm. The plan is to serve the bar menu and desserts until midnight. Call 828-4422 for reservations.