While Blake freely admits that Boise Fry Co. is a “slight spin on a classic burger joint”, there are a number of attributes that set it apart from your average fast food restaurant – starting, most obviously, with the french fries. At Boise Fry Co., the fries are cut fresh daily, and the majority come from potatoes that are organically grown. “We don’t use frozen fries, although they’re a much more consistent product to deal with,” notes Blake. “Using fresh cut potatoes poses more of a challenge, and we had to develop some unique ways of preparing them.”

To begin with, Boise Fry Co. uses the Belgium technique of “twice frying” their potatoes. A more innovative example of Boise Fry Co.’s cooking methods are its yam fries. Like most pre-packaged fries, yam fries typically have a coating of preservative that keeps them firm when cooked and retains heat longer. “We’ve found a way to cook the yams without any preservatives at all,” Blake discloses. “We think it may be unique to us.”

With anywhere from 10 to 12 french fry selections based on type of potato and fry cut, ones first encounter with the Boise Fry Co. menu board can be a bit overwhelming. “The first time someone comes in, we like to walk them through the menu and explain the different types of potatoes and styles we’re featuring that day,” says Blake. “After that first experience, it’s a lot less daunting.” From the fry selection, customers move on to their of burgers (bison, beef, and vegan) and daily specials. From there, it’s on to the seasoning station, where they can customize their fries with a variety of house made sauces and seasonings.

Despite its tongue-in-cheek description of “burgers on the side”, Boise Fry Co. takes just as much care with burger side of its menu board as it does with the fry side. The restaurant’s bison burger is a good example. “Bison is healthy, lean, and tasty,” Blake notes. “Our bison is grass fed and comes from organic sources. We know the people who raise it, and how it is raised.” Boise Fry Co. burgers are served on a custom bun with caramelized onions, fresh tomatoes and lettuce, and a garlic aioli sauce. “We could cut a lot of corners to get a cheaper burger, but there is a high cost to cheap food,” says Blake. “We wanted something that wouldn’t cause the degradation of your gut, the environment…or your wallet.”

A larger goal of the Boise Fry Co. is to achieve a 100 percent organic menu from local producers, and the restaurant is well on its way toward that end. In the meantime, in a culinary landscape dotted with plenty of burger concepts, it’s nice to know that there’s a little place on Broadway and Main that, in the course of renewing our love affair with America’s favorite side dish, is also treating the beloved hamburger as anything but an afterthought.

Click here to read the full-length article on Boise Fry Company that this profile is based on.

Part of the genre-busting beauty of Cucina di’Paolo is, in fact, that Paul and Mary Jean borrow as much from the Pacific Northwest as they do from Northern Italy.  Mary Jean does all the baking, and credits the constant array of desserts to a “short attention span” – not necessarily a liability in a baker with a fascination for new recipe ideas.

Paul Wegner, chef and owner of Cucina di’Paolo, experienced a culinary awakening when he went to northern Italy as a twenty-two year-old American serviceman.  He and his wife and restaurant co-owner, Mary Jean, continue to work through the consequences of this revelation, which is best expressed in the display cases that greet you when you walk through the door of their restaurant – if Mary Jean doesn’t grab your attention first.

Paul Wegner has been cooking since 1973, starting with his family’s restaurant, The Lantern Pizza, in southeast Idaho.  It was during his sojourn in Italy, however, that Paul realized that his perception of Italian cuisine as a boy from small town Idaho was a pale reflection of the genuine article.  “The culture of food and wine is what Italy is all about, and I was in absolute shock and awe of the simplicity of Italian cuisine, and at the complexity it achieved by using the food for what it was meant to be, and not some grandiose production.”

My very first experience walking into Cucina di’Paolo brought back memories of my time in Italy, and walking into little bistros and trattorias, where being able to point to something I thought looked good was a thankful alternative to trying to decipher a menu in a language I couldn’t understand.  Staring at the displays of pasta, meat entrees, side dishes, and desserts, I found myself saying, “I don’t need no stinkin’ menu”, and instead pointing to an item and asking Paul, “So, what’s this all about.”  His answer was like culinary dial-a-porn: “This is our Chicken Fiori. It’s a local, free-range breast of chicken that we stuff with prosciutto, fresh spinach and mozzarella, roll in bread crumbs, sear then serve over fettuccini with our house ragu.”  Five minutes later I regained consciousness and ordered it.

Part of the genre-busting beauty of Cucina di’Paolo is, in fact, that Paul and Mary Jean borrow as much from the Pacific Northwest as they do from Northern Italy.  Mary Jean does all the baking, and credits the constant array of desserts to a “short attention span” – not necessarily a liability in a baker with a fascination for new recipe ideas.  Another important aspect of the restaurant is Cucina di’Paolo’s relationship with local growers and food producers.

For your first taste of Cucina di’ Paolo, Paul recommends the lasagna that he spent years perfecting, but you can’t go wrong with the Chicken Fiori.  Paul also recommends any of their soups, made from scratch, and their quiches and other comfort foods like mac and cheese and a hardy chipolte meatloaf.  Oh…and don’t forget side dishes of wild mushrooms and risotto…and of course, any of Mary Jean’s desserts.  Says Paul, “On any given week you’ll walk about with something good in your mouth, and a good feeling in your soul.”

Click here to read the Cucina di Paolo story that this profile is based on.

Michael Mohica firmly believes that Hawaiian food goes beyond an eclectic mash up of culinary cultures.  It’s a genre.  “I’m drawing on a tradition of what we call ‘plate lunches’ in Hawaii – a mix of different ethnic foods that includes Asian, Spanish, Filipino, Japanese, and Korean, as well as Polynesian.”

While you might expect most chefs to tell you that they were born to cook, Michael Mohica, the owner of Ono Hawaiian Café, is the few I’ve met who has actually said just that.  “I was raised in a kitchen cooking with my grandmother in Hawaii, and she taught me everything I know about cooking.”  And what he learned, he brings to Ono.  “It’s the things I remember seeing, the flavors I remember, the things I grew up with.  It’s in my heart, in everything I do.”

Michael firmly believes that Hawaiian food goes beyond an eclectic mash up of culinary cultures.  It’s a genre.  “I’m drawing on a tradition of what we call ‘plate lunches’ in Hawaii – a mix of different ethnic foods that includes Asian, Spanish, Filipino, Japanese, and Korean, as well as Polynesian.”  That mix shows up in a number of Ono’s signature dishes.

Let’s start with Michael’s teriyaki steak (courtesy of our very own Snake River Farms), sliced thin and marinated in teriyaki (duh!), quickly grilled and served with coconut infused rice and macaroni salad (a traditional side dish in Hawaii).  Or how about Ono’s chicken katsu, a Hawaiian fusion take on a traditional Japanese dish of breaded chicken breast, deep fried and served with a fruit-based tonkatsu sauce.  And then there’s the kimchee shrimp: Hawaiian shrimp sautéed in Korean pickled cabbage.  Some like it hot.

And all this doesn’t even get into the presentation factor around Michael Mohica’s dishes. Those aren’t tears of joy, brah.  That’s your eyeballs salivating!

If you really want to pick up on what Ono’s is putting down island style, you need to show up on a Friday for a buffet lunch or dinner.  It’s the closest you’ll get to a luau, short of Michael’s backyard.  No surprise here, but the centerpiece is Ono’s kalua pig.  Close your eyes and listen to the gentle sounds of the surf in the background as Michael whispers in your ear, “it’s just as you would find it in someone’s backyard, cooked for 12 to18 hours, seasoned only with salt and pepper.  It’s the smokiness and steam that keeps it moist and flavorful; it falls off the bone.”  Michael, you had me at “slow cooked”.

Along with the star of the show is a supporting cast of other traditional luau favorites: homemade sweet rolls, Filipino lumpia, kalbi (a sweet, spicy Korean fried chicken), seafood dishes with bold Korean sauces, beefsteak steamed in taro leaf, a house salad and tropical fruit salad.  Did I mention dessert?  There’s halpia, a Hawaiian coconut pudding, and pineapple upside down cake, to mention just two (check out the display case at the counter as you walk into the restaurant).

On Friday nights, throw in Hawaiian dancing and the incomparable ukulele stylings of “Uncle Herbs”, and you get a bit of the island ambiance that Michael wants to deliver along with the food.  “I want to create a destination for people who have been to Hawaii and remember how great the flavors are,” says Michael.

In the Hollywood version of the Ono’s Hawaiian Cafe story, Michael Mohica brings his grandmother to Boise to join him once again in the kitchen.  His kitchen.  Reality, however, is less sentimental.  Michael’s grandmother passed away in 2008 – but not before she’d seen photographs of her grandson’s dream come true.  I know she must have been proud.

Click here to read the longer story that this profile is based on.

Becoming the only VPN-certified pizzeria in Idaho (and one of only 21 in the U.S.) was no minor undertaking.  The certification is based on a 15-point criteria that includes the use of a wood-fired oven, maintained at temperature of over 800 degrees, authentic Caputo Italian flour, imported San Marzano tomatoes (cultivated on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius), fior de latte fresh milk mozzarella, and fresh herbs.

Step inside either of Flatbread Community Oven’s locations in Boise and Meridian, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that the restaurant has a long established corporate pedigree.  You’d be half right.  Although Flatbread’s origins go back only a few years, its founders, Cameron Lumsden and his brother Rob and sister-in-law Lisa, cut their teeth in a couple of highly successful restaurant chains: P.F. Chang’s and Fleming’s Steak House and Wine Bar.  For Cameron, the door to a career as a restaurateur opened when the door of a musical career seemed to close.

It was witnessing how a well-designed restaurant concept could grow, and the desire to come home to Idaho, that inspired the Lumsdens to create their own restaurant.  Their decision as to culinary mission came largely from two things they loved as restaurant goers: good wine and good pizza.  In a visit to a restaurant in Seattle, Rob came across a pizza place that specialized in authentic Neapolitan pizza.  It was this discovery that led to yet another – and the one that would define the Flatbread Community Oven concept – verace pizza napoletana.

Verace pizza napoletana (VPN) had its origins in 1984, when a group of friends who represented the old tradition of pizza makers in Naples founded the VPN Association.  Their aim was “to protect and cultivate the culinary tradition of the Neapolitan pizza”.  On September 15, 1997 the Italian government awarded the VPN a “denomination of control” (D.O.C) or Certificate of Origin.

Becoming the only VPN-certified pizzeria in Idaho (and one of only 21 in the U.S.) was no minor undertaking.  The certification is based on a 15-point criteria that includes the use of a wood-fired oven, maintained at temperature of over 800 degrees, authentic Caputo Italian flour, imported San Marzano tomatoes (cultivated on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius), fior de latte fresh milk mozzarella, and fresh herbs.  The certification also requires hand pressed dough, which Flatbread makes in-house daily using only three ingredients and an imported Italian mixer.  Before the certification can be awarded, a VPN representative must review a restaurant’s adherence to the D.O.C criteria.

On June 1, 2006, the Lumsdens opened their first restaurant in southeast Boise’s Bown Crossing.  A year later they opened their Meridian restaurant on Main Street, and have also opened a location in Bend, Oregon.  “While our concept certainly is NOT about ‘13 pizzas for $9.99’, neither do we think of ourselves as a ‘gourmet’ pizza place.  We want to have something for everyone who visits us, but the common denominator is our refusal to skimp on quality.  We learned the importance of that from our experience with Fleming’s.”

While the Flatbread menu boasts much more than pizza (including a killer mac & cheese, focaccia sandwiches, lasagna, and chopped salads), the restaurant’s signature dishes are pizza and wine.  “You should start with one of our wines, or perhaps a local wine flight,” Cameron recommends.  “Then move on to a baked goat cheese with fire roasted tomatoes and sea salt and parmesan flatbread with dipping sauces as an appitizer.  If you feel awed by the pizza selection, our servers have been trained to help create a menu around your culinary preferences…but pizza is mandatory.”

For a first time visit, the Flatbread experience is best achieved with a D.O.C. Neapolitan pizza.  There are five on the menu, but Cameron recommends the Tomato Margherita or the Quattro Formaggi (fior de latte, fontina, romano, and parmesan cheeses with basil, garlic and pomodoro).  Pair these with the restaurant’s popular chicken apple walnut chopped salad with house made apple cider vinaigrette.  If you’re feeling less “old school”, your choice of pie ranges from Maple-Fennel Sausage and Asparagus Prosciutto to Tuscan Chicken and B.A.T. (bacon, arugula, tomatoes extra virgin olive oil, pesto aioli with a balsamic glaze).

“Our goal,” says Cameron Lumsden, “is for people to leave wondering when the next time is that they’ll be back, whether they came here as a family, on a business lunch, or on a date night.”

Flatbread Community Oven’s Meridian restaurant is located at 830 N. Main St. For information, call (208) 288-0969

Mathieu Choux’s culinary mission since opening Le Café de Paris in 2002 can best be described as challenging his customers’ perceptions of French cuisine. “Traditional French food isn’t flambé, fancy reductions, or rich sauces – it’s really about simplicity and bringing out the maximum flavor of food with minimum waste.”

A man whose last name, translated into English, means “cabbage” can probably be counted on to know something about food. And after seven years of treating the City of Trees to an appreciation of French cuisine gleaned from four generations of restaurateurs from the Burgundy region of France, it’s safe to say that Mathieu Choux (pronounced “shoe”), owner of Le Café de Paris, has lived up to not only his food-related name, but his family legacy as well.

Mathieu’s culinary mission since opening Le Café de Paris in 2002 can best be described as challenging his customers’ perceptions of French cuisine. “Traditional French food isn’t flambé, fancy reductions, or rich sauces – it’s really about simplicity and bringing out the maximum flavor of food with minimum waste.”

Based on this approach, Le Café de Paris follows the model of a French bistro rather than the more “hoity-toity” stereotype that Americans often have of a classic French restaurant. As Mathieu explains, “What I’m trying to do is casual French food. What I do at Café de Paris is mix three things to fit in the same place – a bakery, bar, and a restaurant. We try to do a nice presentation with our food, but it’s not overdone. Good food doesn’t have to be all fancied up.”

Spend a day at Le Café de Paris and you’ll understand what Mathieu means. We could start with a simple breakfast of espresso and a butter sugar crepe (served with fresh fruit and lemon) with a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. For lunch we might indulge in a croque-monsieur, a sandwich consisting of ham, swiss cheese, and béchamel sauce on fresh-baked country bread. Or we could show a bit more restraint and have a Salade Nicoise: seared tuna with hard-boiled duck egg, avocado, and kalamata olives with a golden balsamic vinaigrette.

You’d be thankful for any restraint you mustered during lunch when you arrive back for dinner. I might suggest starting off with a hors-d’oeuvre of proscuitto-wrapped shrimp with a spinach salad, followed by creamy tomato basil soup (although it’s hard to pass on the classic French onion). I’d throw caution to the wind with my entrée and order the confit d’canard, a pan-fried duck leg with sautéed fingerling potatoes and pan-seared apples – then I’d linger over whatever wine selection Mathieu had suggested with my meal and one of a number of cheeses on the menu.

As for its legendary pastries and baked goods, let’s just save that for another Behind the Menu installment, shall we? I’ll simply leave you with three words: tarte aux pommes. Sure, you might know it as “apple pie”, but like everything else on the menu at Les Café de Paris, come prepared to redefine your perceptions about great food.

Click here to read the longer article that this profile is based on.

While Kris Thompson and Sherri McCoy might blush at so lofty a mission, the unstated goal of The Orchard House is to be the culinary embodiment of what Sunnyslope is all about.

The Orchard House — whose checkered past as an edifice includes apartments, a winery, a boat shop, and a Mexican bar — opened on June 4, 2008. While many restaurants start with a culinary concept and work forward through menu, ingredients, and décor considerations, owners Sherri McCoy and Kris Thompson essentially reverse engineered the process. In a sense, the restaurant’s location has defined its culinary mission. In a bucolic setting of rolling vineyards just above the Snake River, The Orchard House’s Sunnyslope Road location is nestled amidst wineries and orchards in what is arguably southwest Idaho’s less shi-shi version of the California Napa Valley.

Sherri and Kris began developing their culinary chops with what they defined as “a basic all-American menu” and a refusal to simply go through the motions. “Our onion rings have been a huge deal, but we use real onions, and we fry them in rice oil, which is more expensive but has zero trans-fat.” They take the same approach with another diner classic, finger steaks, which starts with hand-cut flat iron steak that is certified Angus beef from local supplier Tri-Cities.

In fact, it is an almost fastidious refusal to accept conventional wisdom about what constitutes a well-known menu item that characterizes The Orchard House approach. Before Kris and Sherri added eggs benedict to their breakfast line up, they ate at a lot of other restaurants and researched the Internet. Then they challenged their young kitchen staff to keep tweaking the ingredients and preparation until they’d achieved what their taste buds remembered as being the best of the best. “We’re even picky about our coffee, since we used to be in that business. We went to a very old coffee roaster in Portland, K&F, and settled on their Asante blend. We don’t serve Folger’s.” Their no-nonsense approach was convincing enough to land them a spot on the Food Networks “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” series.

Another hallmark of The Orchard House menu is its focus on local produce. With plenty of vineyards and orchards nearby, it didn’t take long for local wineries to suggest pairing wines and foods that could be highlighted in wine dinner events. “Wineries would suggest foods that went well with their wines, and we would do research on recipes that would feature those foods.” In following the logic of these local connections, The Orchard House culinary mission emerged as “Fresh, local, seasonally inspired cuisine”.

While Kris and Sherri might blush at so lofty a mission, the unstated goal of The Orchard House is to be the culinary embodiment of what Sunnyslope is all about. “We want people to come here and see how beautiful it is. We have an acre of land, and you can sit and enjoy the scenery, have breakfast on the patio in the morning and a prime rib dinner in the evening. Most people who come here aren’t in a hurry to go anywhere, so the atmosphere is very relaxing.”

Sure, it may seem like a long drive from Boise to Sunnyslope, but there is an enchantment about this part of the Snake River plain that makes it a great little getaway. And at the end of that drive is a great little place to hang out, eat an honest meal, jawbone with wine and fruit growers, and just relax. And just think, one of these days you’ll be able to say, “The Orchard House? Sure, I knew it back when it was just a local secret.”

So just what is it that keeps the Bar Gernika faithful coming back for more? Perhaps the best place to start is with those deep fried, doughy balls of goodness known as croquetas, which the Bar Gernika website modestly describes as “a wonderful combination of butter, onion, chicken, flour and milk…coated with bread crumbs and fried.”  Bar Gernika fans simply describe them as “addictive”.

It’s said that the only constant is change, but Jeff and Stephanie May are having none of it.  Nor should they.  On January 1, 2008, they became the owners of a restaurant that is equal parts pub, cultural icon, and historic landmark: Bar Gernika.  As its owners, Jeff and Stephanie have become the keepers of a tradition going back to when previous owner, Dan Ansotegui, first opened his restaurant in what at one time in Boise’s past been a Chinese laundry.

When one of Dan Ansotegui’s staff left Bar Gernika to go to culinary school, Jeff may came to work for him, starting as a prep cook and then advancing up the chain of command.  Along the way, he learned Basque recipes from Dan, who had learned them from his mom, who had learned them from hers…going back through generations of Ansoteguis.

Dan announced his retirement in 2008, and Jeff approached him about buying the restaurant.  “These were the recipes from Dan’s mom, and we wanted to keep them alive.  We took a few things off the menu and changed up some of the beers, but the reason we wanted to buy Bar Gernika to begin with was to make sure that it stayed the same.  If someone came back here after being away for 10 years, our goal was that they wouldn’t notice a difference.”

It’s no surprise that Basque dishes define the Bar Gernika experience.  Aside from croquetas, Jeff suggests starting off with any of the pub’s tortillas.  Not to be confused with the corn or flour flatbreads of Mexico, the Spanish version more closely resembles a frittata of eggs, potato, and onion, with variations on the theme that include chorizo, mushrooms, pimentos, and cheese.

So just what is it that keeps the Bar Gernika faithful coming back for more? Perhaps the best place to start is with those deep fried, doughy balls of goodness known as croquetas, which the Bar Gernika website modestly describes as “a wonderful combination of butter, onion, chicken, flour and milk…coated with bread crumbs and fried.”  Bar Gernika fans simply describe them as “addictive”.

It’s no surprise that Basque dishes define the Bar Gernika experience.  Aside from croquetas, Jeff suggests starting off with any of the pub’s tortillas.  Not to be confused with the corn or flour flatbreads of Mexico, the Spanish version more closely resembles a frittata of eggs, potato, and onion, with variations on the theme that include chorizo, mushrooms, pimentos, and cheese.

“A classic Bar Gernika entrée is our Spicy Lamb Grinder,” says Jeff.  “It’s our lamb dip with grilled onions, peppers, mushrooms, jalapenos, and pepper jack cheese. Another popular sandwich is the solomo, which is pork tenderloin in a pepper sauce marinade with a little salt and garlic, fried up and served with pimentos on a French roll.  It’s very simple, very traditional.”  Bar Gernika’s menu of Basque fare also includes paella, lamb kabobs, and lamb stew.

A hint to the uninitiated: for your first Bar Gernika experience, Jeff suggests sitting down to a plate of croquetas, the Spicy Lamb Grinder, and a Red Seal beer.  Then, just sit outside and soak in the vibe of Idaho’s beloved ethnic community, and the little pub that has come to define its flavor.

If you’d like to read the longer story that this profile is based on, check out our article entitled Bar Gernika Keeps Faith.

The first order of business for Bob Dempsey and Lisa Kugel was to return the Moon’s menu back to its roots as a “comfort food headquarters” for breakfast and lunch – and this menu would have to be based on “home scratch cooking”.

Derrick Meyer remembers going to Moon’s Gun and Tackle Shop as a boy, back in the days when local hunters would stock up on supplies before heading out in search of wild game.  While his dad bought ammo down in the basement of the old Bannock Street location, Derrick would have breakfast in the back of the sporting goods store; or even better, one of the milkshakes that Martha Moon made famous.  Decades later, Derrick still loves the food at Moon’s.  But then, he should.  He’s the head chef.

There have been only a handful of owners of the restaurant that since 1955 has served a cross section of downtown denizens ranging from sportsmen to legislators to skateboarders; but its most recent proprietors, Bob Dempsey and wife Lisa Kugel, are determined that even though their historic café has since changed its downtown address, its menu and place in the community will return to their former glory.

Originally, Moon’s just served breakfast to what was already a “captive audience” of hunters and fisher folk.  It was Martha Moon-Nelson, the daughter of founders Bernie and Cecelia Moon, who first installed the breakfast counter at the sporting goods store as a way of bringing in a little extra income for her and her family.  In time the café extended its hours to include lunch, and it soon became a favorite haunt of Idaho legislators, both because of its proximity to the Statehouse and the quality of its grub.

The current menu at Moon’s Café is a combination of breakfast and lunch traditions and “new stuff”.  Breakfast classics include “manhole size” pancakes, homemade buttermilk biscuits and gravy, and a wide variety of omelets – all of which redefine the term “large portions”.

The first order of business for Bob and Lisa was to return the Moon’s menu back to its roots as a “comfort food headquarters” for breakfast and lunch – and this menu would have to be based on “home scratch cooking”.  “We go through sacks of flour in making our own pancake and biscuit batter,” says Bob.  “We roast our own meats and chop our own vegetables – hardly anything is pre-made.”

The current menu at Moon’s Café is a combination of breakfast and lunch traditions and “new stuff”.  Breakfast classics include “manhole size” pancakes, homemade buttermilk biscuits and gravy, and a wide variety of omelets – all of which redefine the term “large portions”.  Derrick Meyer takes particular pride in the quality of his hollandaise sauce, and recommends the spicy version that adorns his spicy chicken benedict (two strips of bacon, chicken breast, and a Siracha hot sauce-infused hollandaise).

And if you think you know from corned beef hash, think again.  There’s a reason Bob calls the Moon’s version a “signature dish”.  “It’s a steamy, cheesy, meaty, gooey pile of goodness – all natural and fresh.  It’s great stuff.”  Comfort food is also the order of the day on Moon’s lunch menu, which includes hot beef and hot turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy.  Signature lunch dishes include the Colossal Rueben (imagine an extra layer of turkey breast) and a Mile High Club that Bob describes as “three sandwiches in one”.  And of course, there is the Moon Burger and the “world famous milkshakes” from Derrick’s boyhood.

Moon’s culinary mission recently received an endorsement more meaningful than any four star review: the blessing of Martha Moon, who not long ago stopped by to take stock of the latest incarnation of the restaurant that still bears her name.  Lisa was pleased to report, “she was really happy to see that we had taken over the place and were doing what we were with the menu, which was back to what she had originally done.”  For a piece of Boise’s culinary history, that’s mighty high praise indeed.

“I didn’t really begin to mature as a chef until I became a restaurant owner and realized that it’s not just about me or the food – it’s about relationships.”

John Berryhill began his culinary career in his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, when in his early twenties he apprenticed as a baker with local chef, Andre Simone. Under Simone’s tutelage, John recalls, “I learned to pay attention to detail, simplicity, and consistency. He had a huge, huge heart, but he had a mouth to match – and he made sure you knew the right way to do things. I use those lessons today in my business: simplicity and consistency…especially in the kitchen.”

John came out to Los Angeles, where he continued his career as a pastry chef, but also managed to get some time on the “hot side” and front end of the restaurant business. He eventually wound up in Sun Valley, and following his marriage to a local gal, John and his wife opened up a catering business in the City of Trees in 1995. Three years and three kitchen expansions later, John opened his first restaurant as a “tasting room” – an extension of his kitchen in the 8th Street Marketplace.

“We had four or five tables for folks to try whatever we were currently making for our catering gigs,” says John. “More than anything, our 8th Street Marketplace cafe served as a ‘culinary billboard’ to promote our catering company.” Success, however, has a way of changing ones business model, and the popularity of what became known as the Berryhill & Co. Café and Wine Bar convinced John that he needed a bigger venue for his culinary act – and after several years of operation at a Broadway location, Berryhill & Co. moved into it’s current home on 9th Street.

As befits the showcase and playground for John’s culinary muse, Berryhill & Co. has a simple elegance that serves as an unpretentious backdrop for an exquisite menu. “We’re considered fine dining – but I want us to feel casual. We’re in an upscale setting – but we want to be comfortable. I like seeing someone in a tux on their way to the opera sitting next to a table with a guy in shorts and tube socks,” John wryly observes.

True to Berryhill’s culinary convictions, most meals feature meats and produce that is local and organic. Even the catch of the day is shipped fresh, as are the free-range chickens and locally raised elk and buffalo. Every recipe is carefully designed to showcase and extract the full potential of the foods that comprise it. The menu touts hors d-oeuvres such as Sizzled Shrimp and Pear Gorgonzola Pizza, while entrées like Organic New York Steak, Grilled Rack of Lamb, Mediterranean Three Olive Chicken and the Baked Macaroni and Cheese are in constant demand. Complimenting each dish is a finely tuned, extensive, and well cultured wine list that emphasizes value as well as taste.

The heart of the Berryhill & Co. experience, however, goes beyond the vision of its owner and the skills of his kitchen staff. In many ways, John Berryhill didn’t just open up restaurants – his restaurants opened him up.

“I didn’t really begin to mature as a chef until I became a restaurant owner and realized that it’s not just about me or the food – it’s about relationships. It starts with your relationship with your staff and extends not only to your customers but also to your vendors…and even to your competitors. But the most important relationships are the ones that are taking place among your customers. If people are going to have a successful experience at your restaurant, that experience has to be happening at the table. This is what I feel is important to our customers…that they can come in here and have their own experience, not just the ‘John Berryhill experience’.”

At its creation, the Brick Oven Bistro concept was simply to “take advantage of the fast food generation in terms of convenience and consistency, but with more eatable food.” To this day, a hallmark of the restaurant has been its insistence on preparing its dishes “from scratch”.

It’s hard to believe, but 2009 marks the 25th year that the Brick Oven Bistro has upheld its comfort food tradition of  “slow food served quickly”.  In return for its efforts, Boiseans have taken the iconic restaurant in the Center on the Grove, and its owners Stephanie Telesco and Jeff Nee, into their hearts…and its ever changing menu into their tummies.

At its creation, the Brick Oven Bistro concept was simply to, in Jeff’s words, “take advantage of the fast food generation in terms of convenience and consistency, but with more eatable food.” To this day, a hallmark of the Brick Oven Bistro has been its insistence on preparing its dishes “from scratch”. Says Jeff, “we probably have the smallest freezers of any restaurant in Boise.”

More recently, I’ve come to think of the Brick Oven Bistro’s culinary mission as “new adventures in comfort food”. Stephanie, however, thinks of it a bit differently. “We do regional American food, which can encompass a lot of things.” These things include a gumbo recipe (donated by famed New Orleans restaurant, Dooky Chase), Yankee pot roast, and more exotic regional fare such as crawfish etouffe. Even the Brick Oven desserts have a culinary pedigree: the triple fudge nut brownie is based on a recipe from Denver food diva, Pat Miller.

If you think that trading on the best recipes of renowned restaurants is culinary plagiarism, Stephanie Telesco would beg to differ. From her and Jeff’s perspective, when it comes to good food, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But it actually goes deeper than that…and closer to the heart of what the Brick Oven Bistro is all about. As Stephanie puts it, “It’s nice to have a culinary heritage; you’re helping to preserve a tradition of food that people are comforted by.”

While the core of the Brick Oven’s concept has remained the same for a quarter of a century, the number of soups, stews and desserts it offers has “expanded exponentially”. Says Stephanie, “we moved away from the simplicity of our earlier menu by taking on greater culinary challenges”. These challenges came naturally enough to Steph and Jeff, self-described “cookbook readers” who cook almost every night when they get home from the restaurant. Following their culinary muse has led to menu additions such as sweet potato star anise soup. I’m willing to bet that mom never set a bowl of that in front of you.

In a restaurant market filled with “killer concepts,’ the culinary mission of the Brick Oven Bistro has stayed the course for 25 years: prepare simple and wholesome meals that people once had time (if not the culinary skill or inclination) to prepare for their families…and to serve this food in an environment as unpretentious as the kitchen table. “We used to say that we cooked food the way your mother did,” says Jeff, “but these days it probably more closely resembles your grandmother’s cooking.”  I’d have to agree; but then, I never recall my grandmother making a killer Hungarian goulash.

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