Hot food trends are coming together at a popular downtown address while returning the building to its earlier roots.

When a sign depicting the number nine went up at 9 S. Front Street last week, restaurateur Matt Schuler finally confirmed rumors that he was planning a doughnut bakery, tapas menu and live jazz music in the location, which once housed a bakery and the late, hip, Mediterranean-themed restaurant Caffe Phoenix.

Doughnut and tapas sales have been rising for the past several years.

Doughnuts appear on 4 percent of all restaurant menus, an increase of 27 percent since 2008, “but the biggest increase has come from fine dining, where they appear on 6 percent of all menus – a 100 percent increase in the last four years,” according to a March report in Nation’s Restaurant News.

The trend fits Schuler’s breakfast and dinner plan at the restaurant, named 9, which is set to open in late April.

Mornings will begin with classic and creative doughnut flavors (breads and pastries are due later) baked fresh in house, Schuler said.

Potato cake doughnuts and yeast-raised doughnuts will range from glazed plain, chocolate and blueberry to off-beat choices that head baker Gaeten Lowrie said were still under development.

The restaurant will close from around 1-4 p.m. to prepare for evening tapas service.

Spanish-influenced tapas service has been on the American restaurant scene for several years, but its popularity keeps growing as diners seek quick meals, fewer calories and social eating experiences. International food and restaurant consulting firm Baum + Whiteman calls the preference for small meals the “snackification of America.”

“Even the traditional three [daily meals] are degenerating into nibbles and bits,” Baum + Whiteman reported.

9’s tapas from chef Nick Votel, who was formerly in the kitchen around the corner at Deluxe, which closed in November, include a cheese board, apple-braised lamb shank and seared scallops on truffled risotto. Schuler said.

Beer, wine and cocktails, dessert martinis among them, are planned, too.

Schuler said he’ll make minor decor changes. Rustic, brown-toned interior design hails from the most previous restaurant tenant, Crow Hill. Comfy couches in a loungy setting will join bar and table service.

The second-floor event space will remain available for weddings, birthdays and other private gatherings, Schuler said.

Two-year-old Crow Hill vacated 9 S. Front St. in July 2012. Caffe Phoenix occupied the spot from 1989 to 2010.

Prior to Caffe Phonenix, 9 S. Front street host hosted three different bakeries.

Friends who attended the University of North Carolina Wilmington attracted Boston native Schuler to Wilmington. Schuler said he started working in the restaurant industry in 1996 but also spent eight years working for an enzyme company.