On the day his restaurant St. Boni Bistro opened in a converted auto body shop, Bob Dobihal knew right away that something was up across the street – or, more precisely, being torn up. “They started the rock crusher, removing the rails and ties,” he said, recalling the activity along the old railbed nearby. “We figured something was going to happen.” That something was the start of construction transforming a portion of the former Great Northern Railway line into the Dakota Rail Regional Trail, a 13-mile paved pedestrian and bike path between Wayzata and St. Bonifacius, Minnesota, the bistro’s namesake locale.
From that fortunate turn of events two years ago, the first-time restaurateur found himself perfectly situated to provide health-conscious trail-goers and local residents with the fresh organic food that has become the bistro’s hallmark. Even before the doors opened, says Dobihal, the restaurant was committed not only to using local, sustainable ingredients free of hormones, antibiotics and chemicals, but also to cooking them with healthy methods, setting it apart from what he considers typical restaurant fare. “They’re not cooking food, they’re reheating food,” he explained. “I could have put in a deep fryer but why would I try to hurt people if my philosophy is to try to get them to eat good and then feel good?”
Dobihal’s eat good/feel good philosophy and love of cooking are deeply rooted in his family life. He recounted how, as the ninth of ten children growing up in St. Paul, he was too young to join his father and older brothers hunting. Instead, he spent many hours in the kitchen with his grandmother, making traditional Czech dishes like kolaches, potato dumplings and pork sauerkraut. Her lessons served him well when he was finally old enough to hunt. “My dad had a belief that you didn’t kill anything unless you ate the whole deal,” he said. “So consequently, I had to cook everything and wild game definitely cooks different than something raised specifically for consumption.” Dobihal soon discovered that game meat tasted so much better when paired with local ingredients such as applewood, wild onions and morel mushrooms, creating a perfectly natural blend of flavors.
A Perfect Blend
That’s not all that blended well together – his wife, Athena, is also an avid cook and her Greek heritage has been a great influence on their merged cooking styles at the heart of St. Boni Bistro’s menu. The couple spends a lot of time in Greece, where they were married and where Dobihal found culinary inspiration in the herbs that grow wild along the roads, the pure olive oils from Kalamata – the Peloponnesian city just a short distance from Athena’s ancestral home – and the region’s focus on biologique (organic) food. “We primarily sauté and cook a lot of stuff in olive oil,” Dobihal explained about the restaurant’s preparation of local and organic food.
While they exclusively use olive oil imported from Kalamata, he and his wife work diligently to procure the rest of their ingredients from local organic sources. Many of their suppliers are the same people who provide meat and produce to area co-ops, and they’ve developed an excellent relationship with Gale Woods Farm, from whom they get organic-certifiable meat. “To be honest, I didn’t know Gale Woods was there and I don’t think they knew I was here,” Dobihal said of his neighbor just up the regional trail. “We ended up making a love connection!”
With great ingredients and a cooking style influenced by their backgrounds, the Dobihals have created a bistro menu drawn from Athena’s own recipes and given an added twist by Bob. “We wanted to have some good old-fashioned decent food that people would be able to relate to,” he said. “It’s a deluxe grilled cheese sandwich but with a little bit of a flair, something a little different with the way we season it.” That difference may be a steak salad with a hint of Brazilian flavor or a recent sandwich special (not on the regular menu) of organic chicken breast served with a piquant chipotle mayonnaise and a side of spiced corn (photo, right). In addition to salads, sandwiches and burgers, breakfast is served all day, featuring many organic items such as eggs, oatmeal and granola. With the weather warming up, St. Boni Bistro offers outdoor seating so that diners may enjoy their meals al fresco and perhaps provide a tempting sight for the many bikers and pedestrians on the Dakota Rail Trail alongside the restaurant.
A Smooth Ride Ahead
The Dobihals will be celebrating the bistro’s second year of operation later this month and so far, things have been riding along smoothly, despite some early trepidation. “We just said, ‘Hey, let’s try this thing. Maybe people won’t like our food.’ It is a rather humbling experience,” recalled Bob. “You kind of throw yourself out there when you open up a restaurant. Just because you think it’s good doesn’t necessarily mean others do, too.” On the contrary, many people find it more than just good – on a recent Tuesday lunch period, the small restaurant packed in a dozen patrons, not including those who came in for take-out. In addition, Dobihal regularly caters events for the Three Rivers Park District and Carver County Parks. Even more exciting, however, is a developing opportunity to franchise St. Boni Bistro in California. “Our whole idea is to do there what we did here,” he said, explaining how they turned a run-down property on St. Bonifacius’ outskirts into an asset for the neighborhood. “It’s a complete eco-friendly idea. It would nice to find a similar location, intermixed with houses.”
However, he notes that a California location may necessitate a name change, pointing out, “If you’re not in St. Boni, the name doesn’t make a lot of sense.” So, what might that new name be? Dobihal has chosen a moniker that he feels reflects his food philosophy and the restaurant’s goals: Bistro Eat Good Feel Good. Now, that is a path we can all follow.
St. Boni Bistro
8516 Kennedy Memorial Drive
St. Bonifacius, MN 55375
952-446-9198
Directions, hours and online menu are available at www.stbonibistro.com.
You can also find St. Boni Bistro at the western end of the Three Rivers Park District's Dakota Rail Regional Trail. For a 26-mile round trip, park at the trailhead in Wayzata, then bike along the scenic shore of Lake Minnetonka, stop to explore Gale Woods Farm in Minnetrista, and finish at the 13-mile mark with a delicious meal at the St. Boni Bistro, before turning around for the return trip. For a route map and parking locations, visit http://dakotarailtrail.com.
Tracey Paska, a student at the University of Minnesota, is pursuing a self-designed degree in food studies, which combines anthropology, history and sociology as they pertain to the foods we eat. She was born in the Philippines, but now lives in the western suburbs of Minneapolis with her husband. When she's not composing research papers, she writes about the complex, confusing and fascinating connections between food, culture, and society on her blog Tangled Noodle. She also has contributed articles to the Minnesota Women's Press and hopes to make food writing her profession.
