“After retiring I felt like I needed something to do,” new owner Jeff Frank said. He owns the restaurant with his girlfriend, Kris Bolssen. They purchased the business from Michele and Casey Wanek, who owned it since September 2012. Frank and Bolssen knew them from coming to the restaurant.

“The only thing I did was change the name, and change the menu a little bit. Most of the food that was served here before is still served here. The staff is all the same,” he said.

Frank decided to name the restaurant Town Tavern Bar and Grill, after a place in Florida.

“I have a favorite spot in Florida that I frequent and we always called that the ‘Town Tavy.’ Such a great place with outside seating, and we have the outside seating here.”

THE TOWN TAVERN Bar & Grill in Pembine, Wis., was purchased in May by Jeff Frank and Kris Bolssen. The former Paris in Pembine restaurant and bar features a full menu and has an outdoor dining area in the back, as well as a front screened-in porch. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)

They can seat 74 people at the tables in the dining room and also have an outside patio, where they can serve food when the weather is warm. The front has a screened porch as well.

The restaurant has a popular Philly cheesesteak sandwich and on Saturdays the tenderloin, shrimp and choice of potato meal is a huge seller, he said. They also go through a lot of fish on Fridays.

He had no experience as a restaurant owner before the purchase but credits the staff with helping make the transition easier. He said the staff is like family, which is different from his previous construction businesses. He lived in west De Pere, Wis., before he moved back to the area full-time six years ago.

They have 16 employees, including Bolssen, who said, “I love working here.” She was a bartender at the Silver Dollar Bar in Pembine for 17 years before they bought the restaurant.

She said she and Frank went to school together and later reconnected.

THE TOWN TAVERN Bar & Grill in Pembine, Wis., was purchased in May by Jeff Frank and Kris Bolssen. The dining area of the former Paris in Pembine restaurant seats 74 at the tables. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)

He believes the building dates back to the 1940s but had a fire. The dining room and kitchen were added later.

They plan to install new wood flooring in the dining room, but he doesn’t anticipate any other physical changes right now.

People have requested having a Wii bowling league for the winter, and they may also offer karaoke and music on some nights after the dining area is closed for the evening.

“People need stuff to do around here, especially in the winter time,” he said.

The business at N18727 Sauld St. is near the ATV and snowmobile trails. They are open for dining from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. The phone number is 715-324-6732.