30 Best Places To Eat And Drink In Boise

Nestled near the border of Idaho and Oregon, Boise is the sort of city that will surprise you with its resounding food scene. These days, it claims several highly acclaimed chefs and restauranteurs, including James Beard nominees, winners, and Michelin Star-recognized talents, but the journey to get here hasn't been fast. In the 1800s, early waves of Spanish-Basque immigrants arrived in the area, and since then, the City of Trees has been on a slow burn, growing an international community of flavors with each passing year.

Boise's dining landscape is a treasure trove of global flavors that are beginning to deeper reflect the city's cultural tapestry. East Asian cuisines can be found alongside those from the Caribbean and South and Central America, while the prominent Basque culture is now sharing stomach space with Eastern European and African flavors as well. The options are as varied as they are delicious, and they equal one of America's most exciting, breakout culinary capitals. 

Golden-lit, honey-colored wood accents, and a large mural exude a warm ambiance strong enough to draw anyone into neckar coffee on 10th Street. Some light brown leather seats offer up a perfect perch at the espresso bar, but even if the decor was drab, watching baristas create great, premium coffee beverages from behind vintage-styled, state-of-the-art, custom-made spirit duette would be worth a visit. Neckar roasts small-batch coffee and has a rotating lineup of single-origin beans that, more often than not, include either honey or naturally processed coffee. Light food is available, but it's the coffee that's habit-forming.

Boise has a few restaurant groups, with Wylder Hospitality being a leading name thanks to locations like Certified Kitchen and Bakery. The restaurant, which is located in the historic Hyde Park neighborhood of Boise, has an urbane, humble atmosphere; breakfast and lunch are offered via counter service across bar seating and warm, burgundy-hew booths. A 55-year-old sourdough starter is used for baking English muffins that are just as delicious with butter and jam as topped with egg, arugula, and creme fraiche.

If there is one thing that's hard to square about Janjou Pâtisserie, it's that the stark white surfaces and clean lighting only tell one part of the pâtisserie's story. What the interior design accurately reveals is the level of surgical precision with which baker Moshit Mizrachi-Gabbitas approaches her craft as a two-time Beard nominee. The other side is that her shop's pastries are anything but sterile and feel more like a cozy hug for your palate. Janjou croissants have a cross-section worthy of any Instagram feed, but other delights, like tarte Tatin, are constantly rotating through the case.

Boise's food truck ecosystem deserves its own independent write-up, but even when looking at the restaurant industry as a whole, Antonio's Kitchen sticks out clearly as a culinary gem worth tracking down. Fortunately, it's not too much of a hunt. Mexico City-born Chef Antonio Ceballos serves his world-class birria tacos at a permanently parked home in West Boise, except for when out for events. Even way north in Idaho, Ceballos's Mexican food is some of the most authentic we've tried this side of the border while served with a unique flair: chicharron tacos, lengua burritos, and asada fries.

The building that currently houses Nahm Thai & Burmese Cuisine had been a Thai eatery long before Sunsanee Charoenyothin and her husband, Chauwalit Srivarawong, moved in with a new restaurant last year. They came from San Francisco, where they were already running a successful Thai spot, deciding that they wanted to share the flavors of Burmese (Myanmar) cuisine with a city currently lacking its flavors. Now, dishes like fermented tea leaf salad — with mixed vegetables, nuts, fried garlic, and fresh citrus — are becoming household phrases for carryout nights. However, your favorite Thai dish is probably also on this menu.

Boise is not short of quality Mexican food, and it can be hard to decide where to visit and how to avoid feeling bad for not reaching them all. Make sure Madre Boutique Taqueria is on your list. It's operated by husband and wife duo Chef John and Julie Cuevas. The Idaho Spud is a menu specialty studded with chorizo and topped by tangy mojo and biting jalapeño pesto. The inventive twists are thematic across a taco menu that also features Korean short rib, pork belly bahn mi, and an al pastor with bleu cheese and roasted poblano pepper cream.

Unfortunately, not all food halls are created equal. If they were, they might all be a little closer to the image of The Warehouse Food Hall. At this glorified and centrally located food court (every city needs one), the stalls offer diverse choices without being too contrarian. Yes, there's the standard food hall poké or pizza selection, but there's also lobster rolls, barbecue, a grilled cheese shop, and Piedaho (self-explanatory). The general theme of American bar-slash-comfort foods is done lightly, but the cohesion helps make the final selection feel a little less challenging.

There are quite a few places in Boise where you can have Basque food. None of them put as much attention into the art of chorizo as Ansots. Run by two-time James Beard nominee Dan Ansotegui and his family, this pandemic-defying shop sells a plethora of nuanced, specialty chorizo styles by the pound and also across a wide range of small plates and bocadíllos (sandwiches). Go for the Solomo, a smoldering pork loin paired with vegetally-sweet piquillo pepper on ciabatta.

Long before Chef Dan Ansotegui began his deep dive into hyper-regional varieties of chorizo at Ansots, he founded Bar Gernika, which has been a low-key Basque bar and eatery since 1991. Gernika has long since changed hands, but the tightly packed pub is operated by a long-time employee who has maintained the bar's reputation through service and quality. Order a Spanish kalimotxo and some croquettes or the lamb grinder sandwich. Touch them both up with the fiery finish of Gernika's tiger sauce.

Kibrom's Ethiopian & Eritrean Restaurant has been an important part of Boise's food culture since it opened. Husband and wife Kibrom Milash and Tirhas Hailu cooked for three years at a refugee camp in North Ethiopia before coming to America. Idaho's capital is better off for having the pair and their cuisine. The injera is chewy but not dense, the perfect vessel for shiro, a nutty chickpea dish with an herbal sauce. If you enjoy the spongey wrap as much as we do, go for the fir-fir, which are strips of injera covered in a tingling berbere sauce.

If you were to trace the family lineage of Boise's most prolific Basque restaurants to its end, you would eventually arrive at a woman named Maria Epifania Lamiquis-Inchausti, otherwise known as Epi. The matriarchal ancestor of prominent local chefs Dan and Chris Ansotegui, Epi was the family cook, so in 1999, this restaurant was opened and named in her honor. Despite changing ownership in 2019, Epi's Basque Restaurant has served grilled Basque staples for 24 years, including mingaina (beef tongue in pepper-tomato sauce), tximinoiak (baby squid in leek sauce), and gateau Basque (citrusy pudding cake with raspberry).

KIN is the home of 2023 James Beard Best Chef: Mountain Region, Kris Komori. Komori's cooking takes the form of a prix fixe fine dining menu that changes every five weeks to encompass the ever-shifting abundance of local foodways, prioritizing the flavor of farm-to-table ingredients over a single, limited theme. This rotation holds the restaurant true to its mission of creating a communal dining experience, as does the KIN Kind program, which Komori uses to support local nonprofits doing work in spheres of social justice, food insecurity, and sustainability. It can be tough to get in but look for KIN's Saturday late-night Super Club, which is a dressed-down fine dining experience.

Push & Pour has three café locations across the Boise metro area. Each one has its own identity, but they're all pulled together by a few shared threads: Neoteric illustrations are handpainted right onto the walls, the coffee is affordably priced and roasted with skill, and the regular crowd is full of movers and shakers. Push & Pour once installed a grind rail through its café in order to host a skating competition. Not every weekend is that extreme, but there's always something jumping at these cafés.

Boise is well-regarded for its green spaces and miles of trail, which run alongside the Boise River. Tucked along a spot on the water's path is a hollowed-out shipping container with a fenced-in yard, sandy floor, and gleaming taps that pour both beer and wine for courtyard guests. Yardarm is made up of entirely recycled and upcycled materials decorated to give it a beachside feel. Across the street at the Boise Whitewater Park, views of river surfers immediately boost the bar past the vibe check. Rotating food trucks offer quality eats to round out a perfect neighborhood spot.

Custom-made butcher block tables aren't the only thing that stands out at downtown Boise's Alavita. Over 90% of the menu — chock full of Italian foods and freshly made pasta — can be made egg- and gluten-free. An Italian restaurant where gluten is optional? A rare sight. Whether you want to indulge in a spicy sausage over pappardelle or duck confit mixed with the squat, screw form of trottole pasta, you can do so exactly how you want and need at Álavita.