Owner Cody Lake reopened restaurant on March 5

By Matthew Johnson

Reporter

It has been many years since the tiny Becker County town of Wolf Lake, nestled south of the Smoky Hills State Forest between Menahga and Frazee, had a cafe. 

But the familiar building on the southwest corner of the town’s only intersection that used to be a cafe has officially reopened once again. Opening day for Shepherd’s Table, LLC, was Thursday, March 5, according to owner and Wolf Lake native Cody Lake, son of Becky and Darwin Lake. Lake, bolstered by faith and much local support, is opening the cozy and welcoming cafe after more than a year of earnest updating and interior enhancements. 

Locals are also being treated to a “two for one” deal as the cafe will also house a coffee shop where the old bar used to be, owned and operated by Lake’s friend Caroline Lehtola. 

“I think it will add a lot,” said Lake. “She (Lehtola) asked me about it. I thought it was a pretty good idea and there was space for it.”

He said most people who have known he was going to open the cafe some day have said two main things to him: Asking when will it be open “and telling me that they’re hungry.”

Folks now know it’s opening, and Lake is happy to be able to feed all of those hungry guests.

He said he will be doing that with “classic Midwest comfort food” including burgers, sandwiches, salads and a variety of daily specials. This will include real, local organic ingredients as much as possible including local beef, eggs “and hopefully more local fruits and vegetables as time goes on.” In a nutshell, he describes the cuisine as “classic Midwest comfort food with clean ingredients,” basically striking a balance between comfort food and a clean plate with a significant limit on processed foods. 

“No seed oils,” he said.

In fact, he said whenever appropriate, he will be ordering ingredients from A Clean Plate Local and Organic Grocery in Menahga.

“There will be local maple syrup and local honey. There’s going to be a lot of good food,” he said. “Not everything’s organic, but a lot of it will be.”

Outside of good food and drink, Lake said he wants the cafe to be another welcoming place where people can gather and just visit with one another.

“A big part of it (cafe, besides the food and beverages) is the community, a place where people can come to hang out. Another good addition to the community,” he said.

And there’s even “a little hangout area” with cozy furniture on the southeast side, as well as a “party room,” which is basically a meeting room on the southwest side that seats about 50 for private gatherings of many kinds.

Most of the blacktop tables in the Shepherd’s Table cafe were already there from before. Lake added the matching chairs. He also ordered one long wooden table from the Amish that will accommodate one large family or group. Lake leases the property itself from property owner Tim Provo who had purchased it from the previous owners.

He noted that at one point in the past the cafe was named the “MT Cafe.” The historical gas pump on the east side is an inoperable relic.

“The community was very supportive,” Lake said about his pursuit of opening the cafe. 

And he does have some experience working for at least one cafe in the past.

“I did work at the Cottage House (now The Cotty in Menahga) on and off for maybe a few years,” he said.

The kitchen and bar areas of the new cafe have been remodeled and expanded.

“It used to be quite a bit smaller,” noted Lake.

The welcoming cafe sign on the building’s northern exterior with the Shepherd’s Table logo comes complete with the following enduring tagline: “Nourishing hearts. Serving the harvest.”

Practically everything that Lake and his supporters have put into the new cafe has been inspired by faith. Lake, himself a professing Christian, alludes to the fact that there are many feeding and food-related scripture references in the Holy Bible. Jesus Christ Himself told His disciples to “Feed my sheep” when encouraging them to carry on His teachings to new believers.

Jesus is also referred to by John the Baptist in John 1:29 as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The Jewish people traditionally celebrate Passover by partaking of the Passover Lamb.

“I’m not seeing lamb on the menu yet, but that’s a possibility,” Lake said.

A lighthearted sign near the entrance to the cafe says, “If you feed them, they will come.”

Local drywall compound sculpture artist Pete Levijoki created an eye-catching, custom-made piece of artwork for the cafe’s west wall titled “Provisions of God.” The artwork, depicting a “bread and wine” motif, has a rock in the middle with wheat on one side of the rock and a grapevine with grapes on the other side. Levijoki says the rock represents Christ, the wheat represents bread and the grapevine with the grapes represents wine.

“It’s a very spiritual picture, and Cody is a very spiritual person,” Levijoki said.

Lake himself is excited to see what God is doing.

“Oh, I am excited!” he said, noting how soon the cafe would be opening. “People have kind of been telling me for years that I should do it.”

Lake has enjoyed traveling quite a bit in the past as a traveling nurse, including in California, and was hoping to participate in a long-term mission. But that did not initially work out, he said.

The cafe, however, just might be an answer to prayer.

“The overall mission is being a local, Christ-centered establishment that not just feeds their stomach,” said Lake. As the sign on the outside says, he’d like to see Shepherd’s Table “nourishing hearts” and “serving the harvest,” as well.

Getting there is a process.

“I thought about it. Prayed a lot. There was a book that helped me out a lot.”

That book is “Cure for the Common Life: Living in Your Sweet Spot” by Max Lucado. Lake has used it as a guide to identifying his unique, God-given talents and passions to live a more purposeful and “uncommon” life. The book also encourages people to use personal strengths to serve others and honor God.

“I wanted to kind of capture different aspects of the mission,” he said, referencing both quality physical sustenance but also community fellowship with the potential added benefit of spiritual sustenance, as well.

The cafe is starting out with about 15 total prospective employees working mostly part time with a few full-time workers, most of them living within 10 miles of Wolf Lake. As of this writing, Lake was still looking for one more cook and one more server. He has a dozen siblings and at least a couple of them are working for him at the cafe now. One of them is his sister, Carmen Johnson, who is the main interior decorator for the establishment.

Cafe hours, at least to start, will be Tuesday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. and closed on Sunday and Monday, said Lake. He said folks can order for takeout, but there is no catering at this time. For more information or to inquire about a job application call the cafe at (218) 538-5817.