Eating Adventures

Food Network's show, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and host Guy Fieri visited Boise last year and went to several of Boise's local restaurants. Tom and I have a goal to visit each of these hot spots and see if they truly are worthy of mention.
First we went to a Basque restaurant called, Bar Gernika, in downtown Boise.
We had actually been there for lunch years before, but most recently we went with John and Cindy and Patty and Hal. I had a Solomo Sandwich which is a Basque sandwich made with marinated pork loin and pimentos. It was pretty good, nothing to write home about. My favorite thing were the croquetas, little deep fried chicken balls. It was fun being downtown and the night we visited there was a Basque festival in the street out in front of the restaurant so we enjoyed wandering around the festival. They had a Basque sheepherder's wagon that you could go inside. Tom decided he wants to buy one ;) Okay, back to Bar Gernika, Grade (on a scale of thumbs up or down) 1 thumb up.
A few months ago we went to Donnie Mac's Trailer Park


with John and Cindy. Tom had the pulled pork sandwich and I had the Southern Fried Chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries. It was all delicious and we really enjoyed the kitschy environment except with the garage door open it was kind of breezy. Grade: 1 1/2 thumbs up
In January, we tried another restaurant from the Triple D visit, Rick's Press Room Grill and Bar. I tried Rick's Salmon in Potato (what he prepared on Triple D) and Tom had the Chicken Fettuccine. The salmon really was good and moist and the lemon garlic sauce was delicious. Tom's pasta was really creamy and good. The dinners came with a salad, but we wished that dinner had been served with rolls or bread of some kind. It is also in an obscure location and the sign is hard to see, so I hope they make their sign more noticeable. They serve really good food, so I hope they are successful. Grade: 2 Thumbs up.
Last Saturday night for Valentine's Day, Tom took me up above Lucky Peak Dam to the Kodiak Grill
The restaurant has sat up at the top of the hill above Lucky Peak for many years but the present owners have made it into a gourmet cafe. The place was very busy the weekend we visited even though it is a good 20 minute drive out of Boise. They were running a Valentine's Day special so we both ordered off the special menu. Tom had a chicken pasta dish that came with their soup, tomato basil, which was really good and the special also included a black and white mousse cake and champagne for dessert (we opted out of the champagne). Tom's pasta was a little dry, it just needed more sauce, but it was tasty. I had the steak and shrimp special that came with the soup, and was served with mashed potatoes and corn,good, and steamed veggies. The steak was good, but the shrimp were delicious. My favorite part of the meal was probably the dessert. The black and white chocolate mousse cake was yummy!
I would love to head back up to the Kodiak grill and try a burger or a sandwich because we hear their sweet potato fries are to die for. Grade: 1 1/2 Thumbs up
On Valentine's Day, instead of going out to dinner, I made a "romantic meal". I'm not sure what makes a meal romantic, but I wanted to prepare foods I knew Tom would like and try some new recipes. I made Bacon wrapped chicken breast, 4 Cheese Creamy Risotto, Fennell and Arugula salad with lemon dressing, homemade breadsticks and Sara Cardon's recipe for Apple Tart Tatin.
The food turned out really good. I was quite impressed ;) Grade: 2 Thumbs up

We have a couple more restaurants from the list to try and when we go I hope I don't forget my camera (which I did at all the other places).