Rustic but polished is how owner Shannon Drake describes the atmosphere at her restaurant, 55 Degrees on Main Street in Concord. Bare brick and rich wood give the space a warm, inviting feel.

"The nice thing about what we do here is that we appeal to a very diverse dining experience,"said Drake. "It's an adult atmosphere. It's non-smoking, and it's not a pub. You can come in and have a plate of beautiful cheese, fruit and bread with a glass of wine. Or you can have a full dining experience."

Drake searched for five years before choosing the restaurant's location. Then she spent more than a year remodeling the space while working as a bank officer for J. P. Morgan Chase. She resigned from that position in January, just before the restaurant opened.

The majority of the restaurant's remodeling was done by Drake and her family and friends, including her significant other, Hopkinton Police Chief David Wheeler.

"Primarily, David and I did everything,"she said. "If it wasn't for David, I wouldn't have been able to do this."

Why make such a drastic lifestyle change? Drake says that cooking has always been her No. 1 hobby. Then, 15 years ago she began to study wine and try different varieties.

"I've had a lifelong passion for food and wine," she said. "There comes a point in your life when you say, I want to be happy to go to work and be involved with the things I love."

The restaurant features the food of chef Corey Fletcher. He has created a European-style menu of small plates, four or five ounces each, that were designed to allow customers to test a variety of dishes without taxing the stomach or the wallet.

One of the more popular appetizer choices is a Cheese Plate, which allows customers to pick three cheeses to be served with bread and seasonal fruit. There is also a Trio of Olives appetizer of marinated olives, tapenade, infused oil and bread. The menu also includes salads, soups and other small plates that vary according to the season.

The entrees also change frequently. Fletcher keeps things simple, with only two or three flavors in each dish, and uses fresh ingredients whenever possible.

"Having independence and freedom with the menu is nice,"says Fletcher. "If I start feeling bored with a particular dish, I can change it."

In June, pastry chef Wendy Guilbert Neal joined the kitchen. She comes in each morning to bake bread and prepare the three desserts offered that evening.

Drake is pleased with what the restaurant has become and looks forward to future endeavors, including offering wine flights of three different varieties next month so customers can expand their taste horizons.

Below are some of Chef Fletcher's recipes for cooks to try at home.

The spice rub in the quail recipe is now being used on the Spice-Rubbed Breast of Duck on the 55 Degrees menu.

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