You and Me

Of the more than 40 restaurants reviewed since this column began, You and Me Restaurant provided the most unexpected and enjoyable surprises. You and Me is located just a short distance from the WKU parking structure. Its housed in a nondescript white building that also houses an ethnic food market called Bosanka Food Store. The exterior of You and Me lacks in any sort of clue that inside was a huge, clean, attractive and totally renovated restaurant. (A word of caution, however: The decorations are faux brick and stone, and fake wood trim. I dont think there is any material that occurs naturally used to decorate You and Me.)Another rarity in Bowling Green, especially at a moderately priced restaurant, was the tablecloths adorning every table. Nice surprise No. 2! We were warmly greeted and taken to our table by a gentleman who also provided our service during the evening. Surprise No. 3: Our waiter was the owner, Hazin Idrahinovic. Since You and Me has been open only about eight months, you can imagine his pride. Add that to the fact that his wife is the cook and he started bragging about her food immediately. Surprise No. 4 came as we read the menu and found that it included 23 different kinds of pizza. Many people had recommended the restaurant, referring to it as Bosnian food. Best pizza in town, Idrahinovic boasted, everything fresh! The menu strictly al a carte was also uncommon to our area, and neither soup nor salad is included with the Glavna Jela (house specialty). There also were no appetizers on the menu. When I asked if having soup before the meal would be too much to eat, our server simply chuckled and responded, How much you want to eat?After some give and take, we determined that the portion was a bowl of soup, not a cup. I hesitated, but after my dinner partner said she would share with me, we decided on Begs Soup (begova corba), which is chunks of chicken breast, shell pasta, potatoes, carrots and green beans. The soup is a cream style with bite-sized pieces of chicken and potatoes. It was truly outstanding and would make a great lunch meal on its own. For dinner I elected the gulash, thinking I would be eating Hungarian goulash. Surprised again. Come to find out, there may be as many recipes for goulash as there are for chili. The You and Me version is basically beef stew served over mashed potatoes, and it was very good and plentiful. Pita bread accompanied the meal, and this wasnt the flat-pocket bread that you stuff something into. This pita was a 6-inch round loaf about an inch thick as light and airy a bread as you would ever desire. It had a marvelous flavor, you just pull off a chunk and savor every bite. By the way, Emily Post aside, its perfect for soaking up the leftover gravy from the gulash. My dinner partner ordered the pizza vegetable (Piza od povrca) in my opinion, about as ridiculous a choice for pizza as could ever be made. Whats a pizza without grease? I found out its excellent. The dough was obviously derived from the same base as the pita bread, because it was fluffy and thick. There was plenty of cheese, and the broccoli, asparagus, spinach and tomato flavors blended together for a unique taste treat. And it just kept getting better! You and Me has an unusual collection of non-alcoholic drink selections. There was the usual Coke and Sprite, but how about natural juices or Red Bull? Whens the last time you saw those on a menu? But what really piqued my curiosity was a soft drink named Cocta. Our server explained that it was a caffeine-free cola and, after trying it, we couldnt decide if it tasted more like Dr Pepper or Rock & Rye (a cola bottled by Faygo). As the owner popped open the old-style bottle cap that required an opener, he explained, No free refills is expensive. At $2 for eight ounces, he was right, but give it a try anyway! Jupi, on the other hand, is just another carbonated orange drink and not worth the price. Every day my wife make different special dessert, the owner proclaimed; it almost seemed like a command to order it. So we did, and again, another delightful surprise. The Visigna Kolac was piece of pie with a chilled lemon custard base (no crust), topped with cherry filling and meringue with chocolate shavings. The owner isnt new to the restaurant business, having operated a similar restaurant in Germany for seven years. Plus, the food was high-quality, the owner was working tables, the atmosphere was pleasant and the prices were reasonable. In my book, you cant ask for much more. The reviewer is employed at the Daily News. He/she pays for his/her meals and his/her gym fees to maintain his/her figure. New restaurants are given an eight-week grace period before being reviewed. To comment, contact managing editor Mike Alexieff at 783-3235.