The Lime Lite restaurant is an institution in Fresno -- validated last week when its owners were honored with the 2012 Best of the Valley Lifetime Achievement Award.

The restaurant was George and Cathy Milutinovich's life for 35 years. The couple sold the restaurant in 2011 to Brandon Smittcamp, but have stayed on as consultants.

The Milutinoviches were toasted by more than 500 of their peers at last week's event hosted by the Fresno chapter of the California Restaurant Association.

The restaurant and the family stood out for their constant presence at the restaurant, said Tom Ferdinandi, chief operations officer of the company that owns Me-N-Ed's, Piazza del Pane and other local restaurants.

"They knew every one of their customers," he said. "It really was the Cheers of Fresno."

The Lime Lite got its start on Clinton Avenue near Highway 99 in 1964 when Cathy was 12. The Milutinoviches took it over in 1976, when Cathy, 21, had been working as a waitress at the restaurant and her husband, 23 at the time, was a bartender.

In its early days it was a tiny, eight-table restaurant.

Their lucky break came in 1997, when the restaurant sold the winning lottery ticket to a waitress who had worked there for 17 years. The waitress got $34 million. The Lime Lite, like other sellers of winning lottery tickets, got a commission check and the Milutinoviches' totaled $170,000.

They used the money to gut and renovate the Lime Lite's current building on Shaw Avenue that had been home to the Elbow Room before it moved.

"It was like a gift from heaven," Cathy says.

The new space was more than quadruple the size of the first one.

Fast forward a couple decades and George, now 62, and Cathy, 60, were serving their fourth generation of customers before retiring. They're happy with Smittcamp, who has taken over the restaurant -- "He's a doll," says Cathy -- and who has kept many of the traditional dishes, but gotten creative, too.

"We just feel very humbled and honored to have been recognized for our hard work," Cathy says of the award. "Really what we want to say is, 'Thanks.' "

Where are the restaurateurs?

The Fresno Food Expo is Thursday, March 14.

Here's an interesting tidbit about it: Not a lot of restaurateurs go to the show and organizers want to change that.

The event showcases Valley-made food and drink and is free for restaurant owners and chefs who register as buyers at FresnoFoodExpo.com.

Only 8% of buyers visiting the show are from local restaurants, organizers say. The rest of the more than 500 buyers come from around the country and the world.

Some restaurant owners have said they're only interested in fresh fruits and veggies, and next year's show has been moved to July to allow all those locally grown peaches, grapes and strawberries to shine at the show.

But in the meantime, with more than 100 exhibitors, restaurateurs are sure to find something at Thursday's expo, says Fresno's business development director, Craig Scharton.

The Food Expo carries wine, beer and liquor -- Sugar Pine Cocoa-Vanilla Porter from Tioga Sequoia and cake batter vodka, for instance -- along with cheeses, flavored olive oils and baby bell peppers.

Plus, locally grown meat and produce are the top trends for 2013, according to the National Restaurant Association, Scharton notes. And consumers who attend the public portion of the event are hot on the buy-local trend, notes Amy Huerta, another expo organizer.

"That's one of the biggest things we've seen on the consumer end," she says. "Everyone says, 'Where can we find your product? Is it in any restaurants?' "

Buyers can register online at FresnoFoodExpo.com for the business-to-business portion of the event, which runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The public portion of the event costs $40 and tickets can be purchased on the website or at the door.

Details: (559) 222-1322.

Dinner and a show

If you're looking for food and entertainment in one, Organic Fresno has launched a murder mystery dinner theater on Friday and Saturday nights. The restaurant, just off Highway 99 at 903 N. Parkway Dr., hosts a four-course meal during the theater, complete with candlelight and wine.

Some fictional famous Fresnans are up for the Fresnan of the Year award and mingle with dinner guests. By the end of the night one of the award contestants is dead and the dinner guests are asked to guess who they think is the murderer.

The meal includes a choice of a meat, vegetarian or vegan entree. All the options are organic and gluten-free, and diners can learn a little about the farm-to-fork process of local food, says owner Tara Hamilton.

Dinner and a show costs $25 per person, $40 if diners want a flight of three wines. It runs from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Reservations recommended: (559) 284-3976.