It was witnessing how a well-designed restaurant concept could grow, and the desire to come home to Idaho, that inspired some native Idahoans 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 Lumsden 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.

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 owner Mathieu Choux 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.”

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. 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.