Boise, Idaho

Arrived in Boise about 8:15 after about 6 hours in the car. Immediately checked in to a Hyatt that LVL found online. Very nice and much less than we paid for the sketchy place last night. A few minutes of online research led us to Bar Gernika, something I saw initially on the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives,” though it doesn’t fall neatly into any of those categories. We chose it for the sandwiches and other stuff on the Basque portion of the menu and headed to downtown Boise for a well-deserved feast.

Location ideal (we sat outside on a street-level patio**); food very solid (though as soon as I ordered the pork sandwich with pimiento, I regretted not getting the lamb sandwich; tortilla appy, croquettes, and LVL’s soup, all very good); service excellent. Waitress very friendly, super into our trip, and generous (she comped our two beers, on account of the wedding!). A great meal.

On the three block walk back to our car we passed at least five Basque-related restaurants/bars/museums/shops. Totally unexpected and very much out of place in the middle of Boise, ID. Beyond Basque Block, this section of town has a lot of cool bars, restaurants, and shops. People out and about, enjoying the city on a beautiful night. Probably in light of all that, both of us immediately fall for Boise. Not as beautiful or as big as SLC, but much more accessible and down to earth. For not real solid or tangible reason, we both agree that we would probably fit in much better here and thus enjoy it more. Who really knows, given that as of this writing, we have spent a grand total of 24 or so hours between the two. Nothing like snap judgments.

** From our table we watched several teenagers film what looked like a music video. Couldn’t tell if they were doing it ironically, but we (and many of our patio-mates) found it hilarious.