Patrick and Reem Mata opened the Whitefish Eatery in early July after operating a series of restaurants and a successful food truck in the valley. 

The couple operated a restaurant called Big Fork near Skyles Lake west of Whitefish for about one year before the Covid-19 pandemic caused it to close. They also owned a restaurant in Bigfork called Fork Fusion, before building the Fork Fusion mobile food trailer and working several large events in the region. 

"We signed some contracts with the Averills. They hired us to ... open their food park with them, so we did," Patrick said of Thirty-Eight Whitefish, a food truck court on the corner of Central Avenue and East First Street. 

"We contracted there two years. We got busy with weddings and some notoriety from a couple of larger establishments," Patrick said. "The Griz wanted us to serve the home games just this last year, and we turned that down to open up a restaurant again because we just outgrew the trailer."  

For more than a year, the couple searched for a building in which to open a restaurant. When the location at 6185 U.S. 93 South became available, they jumped on it. The site was most recently occupied by Sunrift Beer Company and Sunny's Burgers. 

"The great thing about what we're doing right now, is that we bailed out a failure, and we made it right again for an investor," Patrick said. 

"The spot needs ... what we have. We have a following already," he added. "We don't serve the tourists. We serve our community." 

The Matas said everything on the menu is prepared from scratch, except the bread. He said there are no preservatives and they source some ingredients from as far away as Jordan, Chile and Spain. 

Reem said there are good sides to working in a restaurant and in a food trailer. She likes the space afforded by a restaurant kitchen. 

"I enjoyed the trailer because it's just us. No overhead, no headaches. We do what we do and it's more peace of mind," she said. "They're both beautiful. But we came to a decision that we wanted the restaurant because people were asking, and now we're very busy." 

There are other, practical reasons the pair is happy to be indoors. 

"Winter would come and ice would show up, and it was harder on my family to be in that trailer because of the cold," Patrick added. "It's like an ice box." 

In the trailer, the Matas, Patrick's two sons and one other helper made up the crew. Now, there are 15 employees at the Whitefish Eatery. 

The menu includes Middle Eastern and Mexican fare, and meals cost anywhere from $10 to $30. 

"Our prices are a lot lower than anybody else in the marketplace, beer and wine included, and it's done on purpose because there is a margin there," Patrick said. "If you go buy a meal at McDonald's or a meal at Panda Express, you're going to spend 16 bucks. You can spend $13 and get a chicken meal here." 

"Which is clean and organic," Reem added. 

The eatery also has $2.50 Pabst Blue Ribbon beers on tap every day. 

For now, the restaurant serves lunch and dinner, but the Matas are looking forward to offering fine dining with sea bass and steaks upstairs on Fridays and Saturdays beginning in November. They have other plans for serving breakfast. 

"We've been very happy with the results. We don't advertise. Our kitchen right now can only handle the service that's inside the room, and so we are ... very busy at dinner." 

A common comment the two receive is that the combination of Middle Eastern and Mexican makes no sense and that they should focus on one thing.

"People are going to have their opinion about us, but what we know is people want to eat healthy, people want a reasonable price, and that's what reflects in our menu and that's what reflects in our service because there's three things that we provide to this community: it's cleanliness, it's healthy food, and it's good service," he said. "That's what we do." 

Reporter Julie Engler can be reached at 406-862-3505 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at whitefishpilot.com/support.