When Patrick and Reem Mata wanted to open a restaurant, they knew they wanted to do it their own way — relying on family recipes and focusing on using fresh ingredients.

“Our vision was to bring health food to the table,” Patrick Mata said. “We both learned to cook from our grandmothers and mothers. We appreciate the value that comes from taking the time to prepare and use quality ingredients in the food.”

The couple in the fall opened the Big Fork Restaurant outside of Whitefish on Highway 93 West in the former Stillwater Fish House.

The restaurant features organic Mediterranean cuisine and fresh Mexican cuisine, and a smaller American menu. Dishes on the menu includes both vegetarian and vegan options.

A popular item on the Mediterranean menu is the Big Fork Plate that comes with chicken kabab, rice, salad, hummus, pita chips and mutawameh. On the Mexican side, the chicken tacos in a fresh hard shell taco served alongside housemade salsa is among the favorites.

The couple moved to Bozeman from California, and recently made the move up to Whitefish with the goal of opening their own restaurant. They ran their own business as auto transporters delivering to 12 western states.

Mata said they were inspired to open a Mediterranean restaurant because it’s a type of cuisine they couldn’t find in Montana, and with a crossover of many of the same base ingredients Mexican made sense to compliment the other half of the menu.

Though they’ve never owned a restaurant before, Mata has spent a lot of time planning for how they would operate with a goal of providing fresh, healthy food. They prepare everything themselves fresh in small batches to control the quality of the food they’re serving.

“There’s a lot of variables in providing a good meal,” he said. “You can have produce dropped off in a box and it can be a mix of good and bad, but if you pick that produce yourself you can make sure the food is consistent.”

They opened quietly, wanting to get a feel for what customers enjoyed. This was after they spent time researching Whitefish and previously ran a test of their restaurant in Lakeside for seven weeks over the summer.

Mata said they found that customers came back again and again to their first location, and now the same is happening here.

“We knew that Whitefish has a population of people that are very health conscious,” he said. “We went to the Farmers Market and saw people buying fresh vegetables and meat.”

The restaurant serves dinner during the weekdays, and serves lunch and dinner on the weekends. During the summer, they plan to add live music and offer seating on the restaurant’s deck.

Located outside Whitefish, they recognize the restaurant will need to offer great food to garner returning customers. They also plan to install a large fork outside the building to grab attention.

But the focus is on providing healthy comfort food made from family recipes.

“We love good food and we want to share good food with people,” Mata said.

For more information, call 730-1430 or visit www.bigforkrestaurant.com.