by Sue Orsen
They are cousins, which explains why the three of them sound alike, walk alike, look alike.  But nobody calls them the Victoria House Cousins.  They are referred to as the Victoria House Boys and also as Bobby, John, and Dan.
Bobby Goral and the brothers John and Dan Lee are owners of the popular and well-established restaurant in Victoria called Cuzzy's Victoria House.  The list of established customers is very long; it's a list that keeps growing.
Customers expect to see at least one of the boys at the Victoria House every day greeting them, taking care of business, and eating.  When the owners eat meals at their own restaurant, you know the food is good.
John's favorite item on the Victoria House menu is the cajun filet mignon served on a bed of grilled portabella mushrooms with blue cheese crumbled on top.
Dan's favorite is the parmesan scallops.  "They're fattening because of the buerre blanc sauce," he says, "but they're also delicious."
Bobby's favorite menu item is also the parmesan scallops but the Victoria House ribs rank a close second.  "A guy just came over the other day and said we have the best ribs in the state.  We have our own barbecue sauce.  It's an older recipe that people like.  People rave about the ribs," said Bobby.
What are the customers' favorites?  In addition to the barbecued ribs, the walleye is "hugely popular, all the burgers are popular, we sell a ton of Ruebens, and the pepperoni soup is a standard."
"We still make pepperoni soup by the five-gallon batches," said John. 
"In the winter we make forty gallons a week," said Dan.

Sometimes the cousins speak at the same time and say the same thing.  They have known each other since childhood.
"Our grandmothers are sisters," said Danny, "and we grew up six blocks from each other.  Our grandmothers' maiden names were Florence and Carol Arone.  They had five brothers."
"When prohibition ended in the '30's, they each had a bar," said John.  "Arone's Bar in southeast Minneapolis has been in the family since 1935.  It's still there."
When the cousins were young, they worked at different times in the business and came to decide it was also the business for them.
John graduated from DeLasalle High School and attended the University of Minnesota in speech communication.  "I did a whole lot of jobs and didn't like any of them," he said.  "I laid cable.  I ran an office.  I worked at a lighting manufac-turing plant.  I worked an assembly line."  John lives in Chanhassen.
His younger brother Dan graduated from Edison High School, attended Ham-line University in business management, and spent time traveling and bartending in Europe.  Today Dan lives in northeast Minneapolis.
By the way, John and Dan have two sisters.  Their parents are Gordon and Donna Lee who still live in southeast Minneapolis
Bobby, one of eight kids born to John and Doris Goral of northeast Minneapolis, also graduated from Edison High School.  Bobby went on to attend the University of Minnesota as well as the Brown Institute in Minneapolis in business and then became a family man.  He and his wife Sherrie have two sons - Marley, 6, and Ian, 5.  They live in Minnetonka.
"The boys are very adventurous eaters," said Bobby.  "Blue cheese appeals to them.  Both Sherrie and I cook.  We battle it out together in the kitchen.  She tries to duplicate our parmesan chicken."  Bobby smiles at the use of his word "tries" in that regard.
Do John and Danny, each of them single, cook for themselves at home?  "No," stated Dan.  "I eat out.  I gotta do research." 
John also eats out all the time.  "We know a lot of people in the industry," he said, "but that doesn't mean we get prefer-ential treatment.  Besides, I like to be anonymous."

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