Second Taste

Pitchers and Pints Downtown Boise

secondtaste — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:11:34 +0000

Pitchers and Pints is located on Front and 11th downtown. I’m telling you this because you’ll need to know when you go down there tonight.

It’s a small bar—warm and cozy. The walls are lined with small tables and benches. There’s no smoking allowed in the bar itself, but Wes has set up a nice covered patio in the back with heaters for those with smoking type tendencies.

Wes is the owner, and has been since April of 2009. He’s a friendly guy who’s more than willing to strike up a conversation, give a laugh and then hand over a sample of their new IPA.

If you’ve ever driven past Pitchers and Pints you’ve probably seen the sign advertising $1 beers. Here’s the deal:

$1: PBR, Rolling Rock; $2: Coors Light; $3: Everything else. Things like Stella Artois, Drifter Pale Ale, Widmer Hefeweizen, Guinness, that-awesome-new-ipa-that-I-can’t-remember-the-name-of, plus a few others.

They also have a selection of wine by the glass for $3 and mixed drinks are $3. Pretty good prices all in all, if you ask me.

Big City Coffee Downtown

secondtaste — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:49:27 +0000

Big City Coffee is located in the linen district. Right next to the linen building on Grove, as a matter of fact.

I’ve always wanted to try this place, but up until today, haven’t. Unfortunately I have no idea how much it cost, but I don’t think it was by any means expensive.

Here’s what we got: Spinach and bacon quiche. Butterscotch cookie, iced coffee.

Yum, yum and yum. My quiche was delicious—nice big slice. Very filling. I will admit that the egg mixture was a little on the salty side, but that might’ve been the addition of bacon. Still quite good. The butterscotch cookie was Cy’s, but honestly, I ate most of it. Totally irresistible!

The iced coffee and my water was served in a huge mason jar. This might be the hippie in me, but I love that.

The atmosphere was nice, once a again, I probably liked it because of the hippie in me, but it was just warm and inviting. If you’re looking for a quiet intimate conversation with someone, not necessarily the first place you want to go, it was a little loud and slightly crowded, but seemed well loved.

They have a full service menu all day. The couple next to us got this fantastic looking scramble which I will try next time we’re there. Next time I review a restaurant, I promise that I will try my utmost to take some pictures, even if it’s with my phone.

Anyway, Big City is lovely, I highly recommend it.

They’re open all week 6am-6pm.

Smashburger West Boise

secondtaste — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:20:00 +0000

There are no Smashburgers in Oregon (which is where I’m from) so last night was my first time in one. We had a $5 gift certificate to use, and they have beer there, so we went in.

It’s on the corner of Franklin and Eagle, right next to the Buffalo Wings Bar and Grill.

The first impression we got when we walked in was a completely dead restaurant. Not a patron in sight. This at 8pm on a Saturday night. Not good. Walked up to the menu board.

It featured several $5-7 burgers. They had a few sides, a few salads and a few drink options. This included $2.99 beers (I got a Pyramid hefeweizen, Haywire, and Cy got a nice hoppy Laughing Dog pale ale), 2 choices for a glass of wine (Barefoot red and white) and fountain sodas.

I had the “Smashchicken”—$5.99. Cy had the “All American Smashburger”—$4.99. I think he enjoyed his burger much more than I did. Mine was quite small for a $6 burger. I was still pretty hungry afterward. The chicken was so juicy it was dripping and the bun was insufficient so it just kind of ended up this soggy mess. I was unimpressed.

All in all, pass for me. Just not entirely worth the money or the drive. Although it is nice having a fast food joint with beer.

Yen Ching’s New Downtown Bakery

secondtaste — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:03:52 +0000

The husband and I decided to hit up the new Asian bakery attached to Yen Ching on 9th and Bannock downtown yesterday. This after a tweet from Boise Weekly. The bakery had just opened that morning and invited Boise Weekly (and everyone else in Boise) to come down and take a taste.

We popped in for an early lunch—just before noon. We couldn’t see the bakery entrance from the street, so we just walked in through the restaurant. They really need to put up a sign.

The bakery itself was pretty sparse. You could tell they had just opened that morning. The shelves, however, were lined with freshly baked Asian delights. Delicious looking spicy, savory and sweet pastry yummies of all sorts. Also, the counters were filled with sweet things to taste. Tarts and cakes, nice sized portions for a free sample.

To put it simply: we were very pleased.

The people were adorable and delighted we were there. Sweet and helpful. The owner came around and gave us samples of things freshly out of the oven as we sat and ate our bbq pork buns and ham and cheese rolls (which were fantastic, by the way). Each pastry was $1.50 and my cappuccino was $2.95, not to mention the free confectionery samples.

A great place to stop by for a snack and a cup of coffee, or swing by on your way home from work. They are open all week 7am-7pm.