Today, the Ho-Ho-Kus Inn & Tavern builds on its rich history.

The restaurant serves classic American food under the watch of executive chef Troy Piegaro. From wings to filets mignon, the inn offers a variety of favorites to satisfy almost any diner, barring perhaps Nixon. The president, a former Bergen County resident, invariably ordered roast veal with mushroom sauce when the inn was a fancy French bistro.

Today, the focus is on making the inn more casual, said Laurie Hamm, who, for the past decade, has owned the inn with her partner and husband Gordon Hamm.

Sandstone blocks peppered during a Revolutionary War firefight harbor a post-modern kitchen packed with shiny, square-edged surfaces and modern equipment serving 21st century cuisine and specialty cocktails. Interior walls

display historical memorabilia donated by locals during a $1.5-million restoration of the structure, also known as the Zabriskie House, in 2009.

“We thought it would be a really nice idea to preserve one of the historic gems of our town,” Hamm said. “We really wanted to do it right and have the walls speak to the people.”

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“We’ve had some chefs come in and try to do their own thing, but their own thing didn’t resonate with what the residents wanted,” said Hamm. “We’ve adjusted over the years.”

There, historic local sports-themed memorabilia and a flat-screen television provide a fitting location to enjoy one of the restaurant’s three burgers: the bacon and aioli-topped Zabriskie cheeseburger, the Stilton burger with blue cheese and part caramelized onion and a salmon burger on a toasted sushi rice cake.

Much of the inn, including the floor plan, had to remain unaltered during the 2009 restoration. Modern infrastructure and amenities were laced through the building to comply with historical regulations. Two bars, a 1,000-bottle, temperature-controlled wine cabinet and new trim pieces ado