The Bistro, a new Mediterranean restaurant at 2341 Russellville Road Suite No. 106, is hoping to give people a reason to find a sit-down locale near the growing commercial intersection of Veteran’s Memorial Boulevard and Russellville Road.

&#8220A bistro has traditional recipes with something new about them,” said co-owner and executive chef Sasa Mandrapa.

The casual fine dining eatery in Raven Court adds a different mix to its menu, with Spanish tapas, Chicago-style pizza, Tuscan-style vegetables and other dishes that range from $8 to $24, and include a salad with the price. The Bistro does not have a kids menu, because the owners say they can make any dish a kids-size portion when asked.

All the owners are from Bosnia-Herzegovina, they said, and came here in 1996. After going their separate ways, the trio reunited after Mandrapa came back to Bowling Green from St. Louis in October.

Mandrapa said food in Bosnia is influenced by its surrounding countries, so there isn’t really such a thing as &#8220Bosnian food,” but an amalgam of foods from Italian, Greek, Turkish, Austrian and other cultures.

The group hopes to avoid a costly mistake that has burned out restaurants like the now defunct EVO and others – being overpriced while having high material costs, and not being consistent.

Co-owner and manager Igor Kuvac said they hope to keep the balance of the menu’s prices and the value given to customers. Kuvac said most of the salad dressings, desserts and breads are homemade.

&#8220We are trying to give the feel of fine dining with casual prices,” Kuvac said. &#8220We try to keep the balance. With every restaurant, we’ll just have to see down the road.”

The owners say their combined experience in the restaurant industry will fare them well. They have worked at the Brickyard Cafe, Montana Grille, a family-owed Sicilian restaurant in St. Louis, and country clubs over the past decade.

But Kuvac and co-owner Ejlin Dadanovic also keep up with the trio’s transportation company, with an office upstairs, Dadanovic said.

Kuvac said they chose to lease the Russellville Road location in order to find an office for the transportation company, but then saw the opportunity for a restaurant. That’s when they ran into Mandrapa last October and began the four-month process of opening the restaurant.

The Bistro has 17 employees, five of whom are kitchen staff and one who is a professional baker.

The restaurant has to-go orders and corporate orders, with some delivery options. Lunch is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday and dinner is from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Call the Bistro at 781-9646 or e-mail thebistro@insightbb.com.

In other development news, the City Limits Lounge has opened in the former Camping World call center site.

Sister and brother team Johnetta Pryor and Clarence Nalley opened the new Three Springs Road bar across from Cue Time on Feb. 2. The lounge sits between the A Baby’s Consignment Store and a laundry, as well as what will soon be Anna’s Restaurant and Bar, a Greek eatery that will most likely be open by mid-March, according to the restaurant’s owner, Vilson Quehaja.

Pryor said she loves the bar business.

&#8220It’s like a fellowship,” she said. &#8220There’s people who come here who don’t even drink, they just want to listen to the music.”

Pryor said City Limits hopes to tap into the 25-year-old and up crowd.

&#8220Just a good, nice, clean place where they can come to dance,” Nalley said.

The lounge mostly plays top 40, country and rock and roll music, and some hip-hop on Wednesdays if asked, she said.

Pryor Express is the live band that will be featured every Saturday night at the City Limits Lounge. The band leader is also Johnetta Pryor’s husband, she said. The cover charge for Saturday nights is $3.

Tuesday nights the lounge offers swing dance lessons from instructors from Nashville, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday night is ladies night with buy-one-get-one-free drinks. The men have their own night Thursdays, with $2 drinks all night. Thursday night is also an appreciation night for restaurant employees, Pryor said. Friday and Wednesday nights are karaoke nights.

Pryor said her brother built the bar, stage, flooring and lighting for the 4,000-square foot-lounge himself. Nalley also has a contracting company called Thoroughbred Construction that built the Royal Thai restaurants in Bowling Green and Nashville’s Cool Springs and Westend area.

The City Limits Lounge will host an Elvis Show at 9 p.m. Feb. 17. Tickets are $10. For more information about City Limits Lounge, call Pryor at 320-3262

Also, near Midtown Plaza shopping center on Lehman Avenue, beside the suite that used to house WUHU-FM, office condominiums are being constructed, according to commercial Realtor Michael Buchanon, who sold the lot to contractor Tom Avery.

The offices will be similar to the ones Steve Sheldon built behind CVS Pharmacy, Buchanon said.

And, Bowling Green Brewing Co., the new &#8220craft” microbrewery, is still on track to brew German-style beer out of a commercial space at 575B Veterans Memorial Boulevard – the first regional brewery to make western Kentucky its home. The location is next to Chuck’s Liquor Store across from the Wal-Mart Supercenter.

The company hopes to be a statewide distributor of its beer and has plans to expand into Tennessee.

&#8220We are currently wading through the federal licensing requirements as well as state and local,” President Ellen Selig said. &#8220We hope to be ready for production in four to six weeks. We are taking our time to do it right. The equipment has arrived and is almost all connected.”

The kegs are in, along with the company’s enthusiasm, but no ingredients have been ordered from Germany as of yet, according to Selig.

People are already asking for T-shirts, and are peeking their heads in the window to see what’s going on, Selig said.

Vendors and restaurants in the area have already expressed interest in carrying the beer, Selig said.

&#8220They haven’t even tasted it and they want to carry it,” Selig said. &#8220That’s good.”

Finally, Greenwood Spirits & Wine Shoppe has changed hands.

Tony and Debra Fuqua are the new owners of the liquor and wine store at 2825 Scottsville Road.

&#8220We took ownership on Jan. 1,” Debra Fuqua said. Charles and Mary Travelsted were the former owners.

&#8220We just recently sold our former business, which was Fabric Dry Cleaners, right across the street next to Brusters,” Fuqua said.

The couple decided to make a career change, and made several changes to the operations, including changing the name from Barren River Beverage Co./Greenwood Spirit Shoppe to just Greenwood Spirits & Wine Shoppe.

&#8220We changed the layout of the store, bringing in lots of new wine products, and a new wine consultant – Brad Nichols on staff,” Fuqua said. &#8220We are doing wine tastings on Fridays and Saturdays now in the afternoon.”

The wine tastings are from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Fridays and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.

&#8220We usually feature about five wines and one spirit,” Fuqua said.

Next Friday, Feb. 16, Chris Morris, master distiller from Woodford Reserves in Versailles, will do a bourbon tasting, Fuqua said.

Greenwood Spirits & Wine Shoppe can be reached at 782-0300.