Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [182]
We started our meal with a pound of steamed clams lolling in a garlicky wine broth and accompanied by toasted French bread and a plate of fresh-seared calamari with garlic aioli and red pepper remoulade. Our fillet of Hawaiian wahoo was a handsome piece of meat, well over an inch thick: firm and sweet-fleshed with a savory crust from the grill. It was accompanied by a baked potato with tawny skin and flavorful insides. “An Idaho potato?” we asked the waitress. Blushing, she confessed the spud was grown in Washington State. On a subsequent visit, we decided to try the beef and were thrilled by a one-pound prime rib, roasted for twelve hours and rubbed with herbs. A marinated “biergarten” filet mignon was butter-knife tender…if somewhat painfully priced at $35.95.
The dessert list is short, but it includes huckleberry cheesecake and Cascade Creamery huckleberry ice cream.
El Gallo Giro
482 W. 3rd St.
208–922–5169
Kuna, ID
LD | $
A cheerful restaurant whose name translates as “the fighting rooster,” this Treasure Valley gem southwest of Boise and just a few minutes from I-84 serves superb true-Mex food. Start with hominy-pork soup (pozole), campenchana (octopus and shrimp in a garlic-lime marinade), or freshly made guacamole accompanied by chips and salsa. Quaff a Mexican beer or creamy-sweet horchata (rice milk), then move on to a beautiful plate of chicken mole blanketed with intense chile-chocolate sauce or fish tacos on soft tortillas. We loved our carne borracha, which is shredded beef with hot peppers, onions and tomatoes; anything mixed and served in a molcajete—a lava rock bowl—is a dining event. Even the refried beans are extra-good, sprinkled with crumbled cotija cheese.
From what we could see on other people’s tables, the more familiar Tex-Mex meals are mighty tempting: enchiladas, chimichangas, fajitas, etc. El Gallo Giro’s little tacos, selling for a dollar apiece, are local legend. You can have them filled with steak, pork, goat, cheek, tongue, chicken, or tripe.
One reason people return again and again, other than the food, is the hospitality of Enrique Contreras, who is known for circulating around the dining room throughout mealtime to say hello to old friends and welcome new ones.
Goldy’s Breakfast Bistro
108 S. Capitol Blvd.
208–345–4100
Boise, ID
BL | $$
Who couldn’t love Goldy’s “Create Your Own Breakfast Combo”? Select a main course, which can be eggs, chicken-fried steak, or a salmon fillet, then take your pick from long lists of meats, potatoes, and breads. Among the not-to-be-missed meats are habañero chicken sausage, Basque chorizo, and pork sausage infused with sage. The potato roster includes not only hash browns and sweet potato hash browns but also red flannel hash (spuds, beets, and bacon) and also cheese grits. The six available breads include sourdough, cinnamon raisin walnut, and fresh-baked biscuits.
Hollandaise sauce is fantastic: smooth and fluffy with an ethereal lemon perfume. It comes on several variations of eggs Benedict. There’s eggs Blackstone (black forest ham and tomato); a dilled salmon fillet blanketed with slivers of cucumber and sauce; even a veggie Benny, which is hollandaise sauce over broccoli, asparagus, and tomato. Other choice breakfast items include frittatas, breakfast burritos, cinnamon rolls and sticky buns; a full-service espresso bar offers cappuccinos, lattes, and flavor shots from amaretto to passion fruit. Orange juice is freshly squeezed.
A stylish little place with an open kitchen that affords diners a view of breakfasts being cooked and plated, Goldy’s can be maddeningly crowded, making meal service less than speedy; on weekends you will likely wait for a table. But if your goal is having the best breakfast in Boise, this is the place to go.
Hudson’s Hamburgers
207 Sherman Ave.
208–664–5444
Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814
L | $
“Pickle and onion?” the counterman will ask when you order a hamburger, a double hamburger, or a double