Following a chain migration, refugees from the horrible 1992-1995 Bosnian war entered the local work force. Those immigrants have forever altered Bowling Green’s social and cultural landscape, and residents of Bowling Green are rightly proud of the local Bosnian restaurants.

Although the National Restaurant Association lists Kentucky, along with Mississippi and Utah, as one of the states with the lowest number of restaurants per capita (New York City, for example, has three times as many restaurants as the entire commonwealth of Kentucky), Bowling Green can probably make a fair claim to having the highest per capita number of Bosnian restaurants. And for the most part, they serve excellent food.

I hadn’t intended to review You and Me this week, but the weather was amazing, and as I drove up Chestnut Street, the front porch looked inviting. Spring was positively bursting, and while the view could have been better, sitting on You and Me’s porch for lunch at this time of year is something special. A few minutes after I arrived, I was nestled under a table-umbrella watching Bowling Green go by and having one of the better lunches that I can recall.

When You and Me opened on Old Morgantown Road in 2003, it sat next to Bosanka, an Eastern European-themed restaurant. The pairing gave some authenticity to the Old World flavor. But in all honesty, that old building was a pigsty. So the move a few years ago was a welcome one.

All meals here begin with fresh, hot, chewy bread served with an herbed balsamic vinegar and oil dip. The fresh-out-of-the-oven warmth of the bread chased away any lingering wisps of spring’s chill, while the mushy-freshness of the bread rendered the oil and vinegar unnecessary.

Bosnian cuisine reflects the geographic and historic place of that country as an intersection between Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean and Middle East. The food tends to be light in nature, without the heavy flavors found in other areas of the world. There is also a great deal of versatility and adaptability.

My eggplant polenta appetizer reflected this. At You and Me, the appetizer features a lightly fried eggplant slice coated in egg batter. The polenta is also lightly fried, giving the edges a delicate crispiness. The cooks top all this with a tasty marinara sauce and crumbled feta cheese. While Europeans and Romans made polenta from ground chestnuts for thousands of years, Italian cooks substituted ground corn native to the Americas to create what had been peasant food until the late 20th century. Tomatoes likewise come from the Americas and gained popularity in Italy, while eggplant is native to India and was spread around the Mediterranean by Arab Muslims in the Middle Ages. A perfect crossroads dish for a crossroads country. It had a subtle flavor that, like most Bosnian food, did not overwhelm the palate with a cacophony of flavors. It was just right for a spring day.

The chicken sandwich with mozzarella and mushrooms on freshly made bread was a dense, solid offering. While the overall sandwich was heavy, the flavor was not. The chicken tasted as if it had been grilled, perhaps with a light olive oil brushing. The meat was tender and the mozzarella and mushrooms, with bits of lettuce on top of it all, made for a nice mix of textures and flavors. It’s also an excellent size for a lunch portion.

I also had the chance to try You and Me’s pizza. In a July 2003 interview with the Daily News, You and Me’s owner proclaimed the pizza as “the No. 1 pizza in Bowling Green” (July 22, 2003. Page 1B, “You and Me Restaurant offers homemade pizza, but no country tunes”). Considering the tough competition around town these days, that’s a bold claim. The margherita pizza I sampled had big, thick slices of tomatoes splayed across mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. The thin crust was crispy and folded up nicely. This was a tasty pizza that would have been better with garden-fresh tomatoes. Hopefully as the season comes in, the restaurant can get some locally grown produce for this already excellent dish.

If there was a weak part of the meal, it was the side salad. While all the ingredients were fresh, the assembly was a bit pedestrian. A pile of lettuce with a bit of onion and a smattering of cucumbers and tomato is no way to complement what was otherwise a great lunch. Sure, it’s just a side salad, but when it’s sitting in the midst of an excellent meal, it shouldn’t stand out as weak.

All eating is contextual. The best food can fall prey to a poor location, and even mediocre food can find itself elevated by a great setting. You and Me has both good food and a pleasant setting, especially sitting on the porch for lunch on a sunny day.

— Our anonymous food reviewer gives new restaurants a six-week grace period before reviewing. To comment, contact Managing Editor Mike Alexieff at 783-3235 or via e-mail at malexieff@bgdailynews.com

YOU AND ME

729 Chestnut St.

• 781-9411

Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday

Cuisine: Bosnian

Price range: $6.50 to $13

Libation situation: Full bar

Smoking: Yes