Work crews are preparing Old Sacramento's newest restaurant, Ten 22, for a mid-November opening.

Crews continued building the large hickory bar and exposed kitchen Thursday. Work was expected to start Friday on a firepit that will take center stage in a courtyard lounge and dining area with a view of brick buildings dating to the 1850s.

The restaurant's Oct. 22 opening was pushed back a few weeks so construction could be finished and the new staff trained in depth, said Terry Harvego, director of Harvego Enterprises, which is opening the restaurant in its year-old loft building, the Orleans, 1022 Second St. The restaurant and the building are overseen by Old Sacramento Properties, a division of Harvego Enterprises.

"We just want to make sure we're ready," he said. "We absolutely understand the need to provide great service, because that's what our customers and clients demand. And we're going to work very hard to make sure we deliver that."

Management from Old Sacramento's Firehouse Restaurant, also owned by the Harvego family, helped choose the new restaurant's wines and collaborated on the menu with Ten 22's consulting executive chef, Irie Gangler. Gangler was formerly with the Firehouse and Crush 29 in Roseville.

They developed a new American menu to fit the range of tastes that will come to Old Sacramento, Harvego said.

"We want people to be comfortable coming in," he said. "It's dishes you'd know, but cooked with a modern twist. When you leave, we want you to say, 'Wow, I've never had halibut cooked that way,' or 'I've never had a steak cooked that way.' "

The restaurant's interior features hickory woodwork, a mosaic tile pizza oven, brick and light tones. Workers still need to install more wainscoting and finish painting inside the 6,900-square-foot space, where banks of French doors in the front and back let light in. A 60" high-definition television, booths and a banquette will be installed in a private dining room that can seat 55. Two dozen draft beers will be kept cool in a glycol chiller system with kegs in a basement cooler and chilled lines to the taps, Harvego said.

The new Orleans occupies a site steeped in history. The building was constructed on a vacant lot that once housed the Orleans Hotel. The original Orleans was possibly Sacramento's finest hotel, used by Mark Twain and state legislators, said Marcia Eymann, history manager for the city and county.

"When we were first entering statehood, a lot of wheeling and dealing went on in the Orleans," she said.

The restaurant's courtyard faces two historic buildings connecting back to the city's boomtown days in 1849, when most of the city's buildings were canvas. Canvas tents at both sites were replaced with wood by 1850 and then brick after a fire in1852, Eymann said.

Courtyard diners at Ten-22 will be treated to a classic Old Sacramento view featuring the back of Leggett's Ale House, a narrow three-story building featuring green shutters, and the wide Booth Building, which sports a shaded second-floor balcony.

"We thought the patio would be a great place where people could come, sit back, and relax," Harvego said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.