Yellowknife (Apr 20/05) - It's been about a month since Sam's Monkey Tree owner Harvey Bourgeois opened the Diamonte Restaurant and he said the almost $150,000 he invested in the business has given it an upscale feel.

The project started in late December with renovations to the kitchen and into the seating area, including building a diamond-shaped bar.

"We went with the diamond theme," he said.

Prints hang around the room depicting the history of Ekati, the NWT's first diamond mine, and its construction. These are complimented with Italian pictures as well, said Bourgeois.

The menu also closes the gap between Italy and Yellowknife.

While diners can choose standard dishes like linguini pescatore - pasta with seafood - they can also opt for something with more Northern flavour, such as venere and grigilla misto a la ciociara - grilled caribou, muskox, salmon, shrimp and scallops.

So far, Bourgeois said business has been going well and he hopes it's about to get even better.

Currently, the restaurant is open from 5-11 p.m., but starting next Monday, it will be open from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. for lunch as well.

"We can seat about 85 people," he said, adding he is now happy with the team of close to 20 full- and part-time employees he has assembled.

"It was hard at first, but now we have a pretty good team together."