The Wine Cellar, a popular bistro and jazz and blues venue in downtown Coeur d'Alene, has reopened at its longtime location after having been closed for two months during a dispute over ownership of the business and the building it occupies, its general manager says.

The general manager, Mary Jay, says the restaurant has resumed operations at 313 E. Sherman with a staff of 15 people, all of whom were employed at the Wine Cellar before it closed.

The restaurant offers the same cuisine it had been known for, which Jay describes as Mediterranean with a Northwest flair, and has the same extensive wine list, which includes domestic products as well as imports from Europe and Australia, she says.

The Wine Cellar is open six nights a week and features Inland Northwest musicians performing live five nights a week through the winter, Jay says.

Jim Duncan, who owned the Wine Cellar for 17 years, remains a consultant to the business. Duncan sold the restaurant three years ago and was not a party to the ownership dispute, Jay says. Duncan has supplied recipe ideas inspired by dishes he has discovered in Spain and Italy. One of the Wine Cellar's specialties is paella, a peasant dish from the Valencia area of Spain made with rice, shellfish, and chicken, she says.

As before, the restaurant occupies 3,300 square feet of floor space, most of which is on the basement level. The seating capacity is about 90, including a semiprivate room that seats 26 people, Jay says. On the street level, the wine cellar has a small tapas, or appetizer, bar and some seasonal sidewalk seating, she says.

Jay says downtown Coeur d'Alene has been an essential part of the Wine Cellar's identity.

Jay, who has worked at the Wine Cellar for eight years, declines to comment on the ownership dispute, except to say that, "The issue involving the Wine Cellar has been resolved."