Eureka! (soft opening)

I first heard of Eureka! last year, when it was announced that they'd be opening a location in downtown Boise.  Downtown probably needs another burger joint like, well, like I need to eat more burgers.  Still, they do have a burger featuring bone marrow, and a selection of small batch whiskeys.  It's pretty safe to say I was intrigued.  Now I don't seek out freebies.  I don't contact restaurants or PR firms and hint that I'd like to be able to access a place early, or for free, or whatever.  Still, sometimes these people contact me, and I was kind of hoping that would happen in this case, simply because I expected them to be annoyingly busy when they first opened and knew I would likely wait a few weeks or even a couple of months before I finally got around to trying them.  A few weeks back, I signed into my email to see a message from Eureka!'s PR awaiting me, but it turned out to just be an opening date, a press release, and an offer of high res photographs.  You know, just in case I wanted to give them a little free advertising.  Now if you've been reading my stuff for a while, you'll know this is a pet peeve of mine.  I don't just post other people's words and pictures.  Still, I wanted to check them out eventually, and I figured I'd just post my own words and pictures when I got around to it.  I mean maybe they weren't even going to have a soft opening.

Nope.  They did indeed have a soft opening, and yours truly scored an invite, albeit in a completely unprecedented and unexpected way...

Bang on the Wall Burgers

Okay, this is going to be such a quick one that usually I'd go back for a second visit to pad it out, but it's a means to an end so bear with me.  Tonight from 5-8 pm is the second weekly installment of Food Trucks in the Park at Ann Morrison Park downtown, courtesy of Idaho Food Truck Coalition.  I went last week, when unfortunately the weather wasn't welcoming and the turnout was kind of sparse.  As I walked the line of trucks, they were pretty evenly split between trucks I had already written about and trucks I hadn't yet visited.  However, there was only one truck I had visited but had not yet written about, so it seemed like a good time to remedy that.

The Habit Burger Grill - Grand Opening today!

I'm literally months behind on my reviews at this point, but I'm going to leap ahead and talk about something timely and topical (not to mention relevant to most of you, at least the ones who think I spend too much time talking about restaurants at the Oregon Coast).  If you follow the goings on at The Village at Meridian the way I do, you're likely aware of the impending opening of The Habit Burger Grill.  You'll find them in a strip of shops on Eagle Road, just North of the Fairview intersection.  Turn in at the Mattress Firm, and if you pass the other Mattress Firm then you'll know you've gone too far.  They did a free burger day on Halloween, and two hours of free lunches Sunday and yesterday with limited menus.  Yesterday evening was a friends and family event, with a few of us bloggers thrown in for good measure.  These good people have been put through their paces, and I think they'll be ready to handle the masses today at their grand opening.  Now, about that food...

Jakers Bar and Grill

Recently we celebrated my mother's 60th birthday.  Mama wanted steak, and I decided she was gonna get it.  The question: where?  The last time I tried to take her out for a steak, the place literally served her a slab of raw meat.  She isn't fond of "stuffy" places, plus we had kids with us, so that ruled out the higher-end joints downtown.  So we needed a place that was casual, kid-friendly, had more options than just NY strip or filet, with bonus points the closer it was to Meridian.  After a fair amount of research I decided on a place that satisfied all of those requirements, with the added incentive of 50% off the birthday girl's dinner.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I spent the first couple of years of the new millennium living in Upstate New York.  Unfortunately, I was a much different person then, especially in regards to food.  I was surrounded by options I'd never had before, and as a rule I ignored them while my then-girlfriend and I made the rounds of various fast food joints, with the occasional special trip to a brewpub.  Hell, I lived upstairs from a Jamaican restaurant that I never crossed the threshold of!  I'm still kicking myself about it.

This isn't to say that I have completely abandoned all fast food (I'm just much more selective about it now, and have it much less often) or that I didn't come West again without any new edible interests.  I left NY with new tastes for haddock (fish fry Fridays!), beef on weck sandwiches, NY style pizza, and frozen custard.  Luckily I had Stan's to fulfill most of those cravings for a while, but then they closed up shop.  While the Valley is still sorely lacking on weck and good fish fry options, frozen custard finally made a comeback with the opening of Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers last year.

Treats and Tragedies on the Road: Salt Lake City, Day 2

Day two of the trip was all about Lagoon.  It was the first time for both children going to a real amusement park (and they thought the rides at the Fair were impressive!), and my first time at one in over a decade.  I'm sure you don't want me to regale you with tales of roller coasters or amusement park food, which has been substantially corporate-ized since my last visit...

This was where I had lunch, for example...

The Counter

I like burgers.  A lot.  In fact, I've taken some ribbing over how many burgers and burger joints I've written about on this blog.  I can't help it, I like options!  And like pizza, sandwiches and salads, the burger is just one of those foods that lends itself to customization.  I've driven all the way across town on occasion just because someone tells me that some joint has put out a new novelty burger, and one of the things I've always loved the most about Fuddruckers is the amount of veggies and sauces available they have available for you to choose from.  Still, how many times have you been eating a novelty burger and wished that an item could be added or taken away, or that a different sauce or bun was available?  What if there was a place that put a dazzling number of choices directly into your hands, and built a burger to your exact specifications?  You see where I'm going with this, right?

Yeah, this place.

Saint Lawrence Gridiron 2: Gridiron Harder

Food trucks making the jump to "brick and mortar" restaurants has become something of a trend lately.  I can think of four so far this year.  Unfortunately, about half the time they seem to junk the trucks when the restaurant opens, which surprises and saddens me.  I mean things are just starting to get more interesting for the truck scene, and we're losing some of the better trucks!  Still, there was one that I've known for a while now would not survive; the limitations of truck cooking were simply too confining for the imagination and ambition of the man running the show.  Since the title of the post kind of gives away who I'm talking about, let's just get on with it, eh?

Mythical Munchies

You may notice that I don't typically include a lot of background information about eateries and chefs in my reviews.  Unlike print publications and some of the other bloggers around, I value my anonymity, the primary reason for which is the fact that when I go to a place, I want to be treated like anyone else walking in off the street.  I don't want special treatment, free food, or extra effort put in on my account.  I want the same experience anybody else would have, it keeps things objective and fair.  So, I don't really ask for people's life story while they're making my food.  Still, sometimes the aesthetics of an eatery tells you something about the people behind the scenes...

Fanci Freez

Fanci Freez...what is there to say?  If you grew up in this area, as I did, you're probably familiar with them.  Hell, I've been going there since I was a kid.  In my opinion, they are hands-down the best drive-in fast food eatery in town.  Not for their hot food per se, but the desserts...I've been there so many times that I can't recall a specific anecdote to use as a framework for this review.  So, yeah...food.

Sometimes the past should remain just that...

Well, time to clear the inbox of a few more places I'm having trouble making myself write about.   Today's theme is "What the hell happened to these places I used to love?!"

Crooked Fence Brewing Co. Barrelhouse

Okay, so I know my last review was of a brewpub as well.  Sue me.  The roommate and I hit two pretty much back-to-back.  Crooked Fence Brewing Co.'s Barrelhouse is a little closer to home and with plenty of parking, so that made it a little easier for us to make it to.

Better late than never, right?

Occasionally I'll go to a very new restaurant and have a frustrating experience, but see enough promise in them to realize maybe I should give them another chance down the road.  That instinct has rarely let me down, but in this case pretty much everything I've heard and read has led me to believe that none of the things I saw as issues have really been resolved.  So, rather than hold off on the write-up until a return visit that isn't looking like it's going to happen at this point, I figure I might as well just post what I've got and move on to the next place.  So, with that in mind...

Another serving of "meh"...

I swear to you, I didn't want to kick off the new year with another bunch of these, but I've been having a lot of mediocre experiences lately and I'm burying myself with them because I can't get enthused about writing them up.  Bear with me, and consider yourself warned...

Stagecoach Inn's Fried Chicken

A little end of the year housekeeping...

If you've read through my posts, you'll see quite a few write-ups for places that I thought were pretty good, a fair amount for places that I absolutely adored, and a few for places that I just plain despised.  That isn't to say that I don't go to eateries that I don't have any strong feelings about either way, or that I dislike just enough that I'm likely not to return, or that are just okay but I'll never go back because there are too many other eateries to choose from...it's just hard to work up the enthusiasm to write about them.  Eventually I accumulate enough of those places that I'll just combine them into one piece and get them off my to-do list.  This time I decided to compile a day's worth of meals as kind of a fun theme.  So, let's talk breakfast.

Burgerlicious

I receive a fair amount of (mostly) good-natured teasing regarding how much I focus on burgers and food trucks here.  So, for all of those people, here's a review about a burger truck!

The Chef's Hut Cafe

I'm sure a lot of you have had the experience of hearing about a place over and over again for years, but for whatever reason have never gotten around to actually trying it.  Even though I've spent the majority of my life in the Boise area, there are still a lot of old restaurants I have yet to set foot in.  Every once in a while, I'll be overwhelmed with a sudden conviction that I must try one of those places, and NOW.  Recently I had that feeling about The Chef's Hut Cafe,  which has been in existence just about as long as I have.  And just like me, the place is something of a mixed bag...

Westside Drive In (State Street)

One thing I've learned in the time I've been doing this is that some places are, for lack of a better word, institutions.  These establishments have fiercely loyal fanbases, including individuals who will resort to base insults and nonsensical rants should you speak ill of their darlings.  Normally, I don't like to give a lot away in the opening paragraph of a write-up, but I get the feeling I'm going to anger some people with this one.  If you don't want to hear any negative comments about Westside Drive In, I'd suggest that you stop reading now.

Joe's Crab Shack

I'm on a LOT of restaurant contact lists.  Barely a day goes by where I don't receive an e-mail, text message, Facebook message, flyer or postcard inviting me to try something new or offering a discount if I'll deign to eat at a particular establishment.  A while back, a coupon for Joe's Crab Shack crossed my path.  The deal was that with the purchase of an entrée, I would receive a complimentary appetizer.  To be honest, nothing I'd heard about the place had ever interested me enough that I would bother eating there.  The way it was told to me, it was a loud, crowded, annoying place with crappy music and waiters who plopped themselves down at your table to take your order...just the kind of chain place that I hate.  Still, I figured it might be worth a take-out order, especially at lunch time when it was likely to be less busy.  Besides, I could use more seafood in my life...

Big Jud's

Maybe it's my contrarian nature, but I have a habit of not reviewing places if the Boise Weekly or the Idaho Statesman have done so recently.  This sometimes holds true even if it's a place I desperately want to check out.  It's even worse if the place has gotten national exposure.  I enjoy seeking out the places that nobody knows about, nobody talks about, or that everyone is so used to being around that they never really examine them.

Occasionally, someone contacts me about what they consider to be an egregious oversight on my part.  For example, a few months back I got an e-mail from a guy named Jim who couldn't believe that with all the burger write-ups I've done, Big Jud's wasn't among them.  It's not that I didn't want to try the place, and in fact I'd been curious about them ever since I saw them on Man V. Food, but that same exposure made me less interested in writing about them.   My time and resources are limited enough that when it comes to deciding where to eat, a place that I can get a write-up out of will usually win.  Still, this local burger institution and I were bound to cross paths eventually, and with a little incentive from Groupon I finally made the short trip to Big Jud's.  It's a trip I hope to make again.  And again.  And again...