Above: The café offers cozy indoor seating for chilly days, and the option to dine outside or on the porch overlooking Poplar Lake when the weather is nice. Right: (L-R) Chef John Barton, Ida and Andy DeLisi.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” commented Andy DeLisi after sharing his plans for the Big Bear Lodge and its most recent addition, the Dancing Bear Café. Along with co-owner and wife, Ida DeLisi and Chef John Barton, Andy has a lot of plans for the café.
The lodge and café have a long and exciting history, starting in the late 1930s when a Russian doctor decided to set up a premier hunting and fishing lodge. The lodge changed hands several times over the years and was also rebuilt multiple times, having burnt down twice. The lodge even hosted the late Charles Schulz, Minnesota’s famous cartoonist and creator of the Peanuts.
“They were known as a gourmet steak and pancake house. That was their thrust,” said Andy of the last pair of owners. “When we took over, and changed the name, we had a lot of inquiries. Are you going to do food?”
At first, Andy and Ida had planned to keep the lodge small scale and had not been interested in committing to such a time-consuming project.
“But then we met John,” Andy said. “John has a big interest in cooking, obviously, and he’s a chef. And he’s good at it. He’s going to bring a whole different flavor to the trail.”
John Barton had been working at Trail Center when he teamed up with Andy to start the Dancing Bear Café.
“People are looking for other options,” Andy said. “I don’t want to run my guests 20 miles down the road to get something to eat. It’s nice, our proximity, mid-trail is good.”
Along with offering another option for guests staying up the Gunflint Trail, the Dancing Bear’s owners and chef plan to offer a unique menu as well.
“We both have some of a hunting background,” John said of himself and Andy. “And I think that will definitely be tied into the menu. And the menu will change. The menu will definitely change with the seasons, and probably more often than that.”
Over the winter, the DeLisis and John had been working to refurbish the commercial kitchen that was still part of the lodge from its days as Old Northwoods. They also set up a small dining room, seating on a screened porch, and will have tables outside overlooking Poplar Lake.
The café’s chefs, John and Ida, and official taste-tester, Andy, are eager to ensure the quality of the food they serve as well.
“We all feel very strongly about getting good ingredients. I’m taking the time to really research the farms we are getting products from,” said John. “And we know where it’s coming from. We know the family, we know a lot of the farms we’ve chosen to go with.”
In the future, Andy, Ida, and John are hoping to grow a lot of the food near the lodge, and possibly raise chickens as well. However, they are starting small and easing into it one step at a time.
“Our ideas are there,” Andy said. “From the lodge standpoint, now we have a really cool café and excellent food to offer our guests who are staying here.”
The café will be opening Friday, May 13, right before the fishing opener. In addition to their regular menu, which will include, among other things, homemade bacon, turkey, and some fantastic duck burgers, the café will also have a barbeque day every other Wednesday from July 20 to the end of August featuring some great food along with local musicians.
For more information about Big Bear Lodge and their newest addition, the Dancing Bear Café, you can visit their website at http:// bigbearlodgemn.com.
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