Boise Weekend Recap

Last month the boyfriend and I had the chance to spend a weekend in Boise, Idaho. You may be wondering”Why Boise?”, you wouldn’t be the only one. It wasn’t a totally random trip, but started with my dad having a weekend layover. Unfortunately his trip fell through, but the boyfriend and I were still able to make it work (thanks dad!).

For all you foodies reading this, Boise is a MUST. Never have I had such a hard time narrowing down where to eat while on vacation! Breweries, restaurants, cafes, and street markets galore line the streets downtown. We were pretty centrally located, so everything was within walking distance. While it was windy and a little cool, we braved it to make the most of the weekend.

Day one consisted of a lot of food and microbrews. We really hit the ground running as soon as we checked into the hotel. Our first stop was the Capital Market, a street market lining a few blocks just down from the Capital.

Here we found Pie Hole, a by-the-slice pizza joint. We didn’t have a true breakfast, so potato and bacon slices it was!

During the market we sampled some of Meriweather’s Cider, and it was amazing! They had a recently opened taproom, so that became our next spot. We started strong with a couple of cider flights, featuring house made and local ciders. My favorites were Chanilla (cherry vanilla) and Chaider (chai spiced cider) while the boyfriend favored their Hop Shot (think beer meets cider).

After a little wandering we hit up Barbarian Brewing’s downtown location. The boyfriend found them online and we found it in passing. He was looking forward to trying “Erik the Red” while I went for the “Mayan Cacao”, a stout made with butternut squash and infused with nitro. Here I found my new love of nitro beer! We ended up splitting a flight – the Mayan Cacao and triple Belgium were my faves!

We also split a couple street tacos from Calle 75 Street Tacos. A lot of the breweries in downtown Boise have partnerships with local eateries, where the restaurant will deliver to the brewery. Most are nearby for quick delivery, so it all works out! We had a chicken and carne asada taco – both were delish!

Donuts are always necessary, and Guru Donuts was no exception! Lucky for us, it was happy hour. This meant buy a donut, get one free. While the case was picked over, we were able to snag a Girl Scout Cookie and a Hansel and Gretel. Absolute perfection!

Our final stop took us to Boise Brewing for a couple of beers (or a cider in my case!). They had a pretty cool set up, with steins lining the wall and Pizza was courtesy of the Wylder, a newer restaurant on the scene. We opted for the Gem State of Mind, which had potatoes, caramelized onions, rosemary, and sage. The crust was super thin but man was it filling!

While I may have started day two with a sore throat, I didn’t let it stop the adventuring or eating! After a morning of wandering around the zoo, we made our first stop at Meraki Greek Street Food. Holy cow was it delicious! We split the Zeus Fries with lamb and a Santorini gyro with chicken. Both were phenomenal. Meraki came highly recommended, and we both understand why!

To make the most of our trip, we stopped at White Dog Brewing for a pre-dinner flight. I like the cream ale and cream ale with nitro. The boyfriend was a fan of a couple of their IPAs, and the glasses (“Fetch the Good Life”). The middle of the bar top had an ice strip set in, meant to keep drinks cool. However, they had little, plastic animals too. Apparently someone brought them in awhile ago, and people play with them at the bar. Whenever the animals start to go missing, the staff replace them!

The last official dinner of the trip was at Prost!, a German bar and restaurant. We decided to split a couple of menu items: bratwurst and sauerkraut, a warm pretzel (because how can you not have a pretzel with beer?), and hot potato salad. While everything was good, it took a lot of restraint to not eat the entire bowl of potato salad myself. It was cooked with bacon and delicious! Too bad we aren’t regulars, otherwise we’d be there all time for potato salad and to join their stein club.

We decided to end the night with something sweet. Across from our hotel was the STIL (aka the Sweet Things in Life). The STIL specializes in ice cream, but also offer beer and wine. This means boozy floats, boozy ice cream, and beer/ice cream flights! We just opted for a couple of scoops. I had Caribbean Cruise (coconut, caramel, and coffee) and the boyfriend had Nutella Pretzel (self-explanatory) and Easy Like Sunday Morning (caramel coffee). Mine was vegan but I didn’t even realize it. Added bonus: STIL offers a couple of Boulevard Beers, so cool seeing a piece of KC in Boise!

Day three, better known as our final morning in Boise, called for one last brunch. Bacon seemed like an appropriate choice, because when is bacon a bad idea? Obviously they specialize in all things bacon, including bacon flights. I, however, was tempted by brioche french toast topped with strawberries and house made whip. The boyfriend has a bacon, grit bowl (and learned what grits were in the process!).

Our final foodie stop was more of an errand. As I said early on, my dad sent us on this trip, so we obviously had to begin to find a way to say thanks. He absolutely LOVES Goldy’s Cafe, specifically their giant cinnamon rolls. Obviously we bought like three cinnamon rolls so we could snack on the ride back and still thank dad!

I would also like to point out that we did do more than eat during the two and half days we were in Boise! We checked out the Capital Building and Liberty Bell replica.

We checked out Zoo Boise, where I got to feed a sloth Bear! She eats mealworms and sucks them up through a plastic tube. It was a really fun experience. Fun fact: Bloo from The Jungle Book is actually a sloth bear! I also made the snow leopard pounce.. apparently they aren’t fans of staring contests.

 

 

The Idaho State History Museum opened during the weekend we stayed, so that was a must. The museum was full of interactive exhibits that highlighted Idaho’s history. We had fun in the mock town, pretending to ride trains and work in a mine.

We even rented bikes from our hotel and checked out the Green Belt and Boise State University’s campus!

Also a special thanks to the Hampton Inn and Suites Downtown for taking amazing care of us! Everyone there was incredibly sweet, friendly, and welcoming. I highly recommend staying there if you decide to visit!

We had a great weekend, and I look forward to going back soon!