- The Cookbook was printed by the Vacaville Museum in 1997. It contains 40 recipes, and more than 100 photos and graphics from the restaurant and retail stores that closed in 1996. As of September, 2015, they still accept phone orders for the remaining copies. Design Don Birrell served as the design director for the Nut Tree from 1953 until his retirement in 1990. Ed Power hired Charles Eames to design the Nut Tree's furniture. A 1957 trip to Denmark gave Ed Power and Don Birell the idea of designing the Nut Tree's patio area to resemble the Tivoli Gardens with special lighting and kiosks. Coffee Tree The Coffee Tree was a coffee shop and restaurant that was a subsidiary of the Nut Tree. The Coffee Tree opened in 1965 across Interstate 80 from the Nut Tree restaurant. The Coffee Tree building was designed by architects Dreyfuss and Blackford in 1965. The Coffee Tree building with its distinctive curved roof line was featured in the October 1966 issue of Architectural Record and received an AIA Central Valley Merit Award in 1967. The interior of the Coffee Tree was largely designed by Don Birrell, the design director of the Nut Tree, along with the Coffee Tree's logo and menu designs. The Coffee Tree displayed artwork from artists such as Ruth Dicker, whose work was sometimes featured in the Coffee Tree menus as well. The Coffee Tree was known for several of its signature items, such as a large elongated hamburger known as the "Buddy Burger" and an "Ice Cream Clown" (a scoop of ice cream with an ice cream cone for hat and a candy clown face). The gift shop sold Nut Tree frosted gingerbread cookies featuring designs by Don Birrell. It also sold glass jars of colored sugar crystals in an assortment of colors. When the Nut Tree restaurant closed in 1996, many employees of the Nut Tree restaurant migrated to the Coffee Tree. The Coffee Tree building was demolished in 2005. Financial issues and closure The Nut Tree ceased operations in 1996 due to financial issues brought about by a family feud that was taken to court. The main Nut Tree buildings were demolished in the fall of 2003. The Coffee Tree restaurant across the I-80 freeway, another part of the original Nut Tree holdings, was demolished in late 2005. The old original Harbison house was donated to the