Burger 'n Brew

Burger 'n Brew

4295 West State Street 
Boise, ID 83703‎
(208) 345-7700

Dive bar plus diner. Large selection of beers on tap (24 at last count, many local).  The beer sizes could use a little update - the choices are 12 or 20 oz.  The 20 oz is served up in a weighty schooner glass, which makes the whole thing rather unwieldy.  A pint glass (American or Imperial) would be a welcome addition to the choices (or replacement for the schooner).

The menu has an interesting variety of burgers, some of which are upsized just like the beers.  Decided to go with a traditional Reuben instead, which turned out to be a disappointing choice.  It was somewhat greasy and didn't have much flavor.  The fries were a little soft and undercooked.

Overall underwhelming, but a burger and a 12oz beer would probably have been a totally different experience ...

RAM Restaurant and Brewery

RAM Restaurant and Brewery
709 East Park Boulevard
Boise, ID 83712
+1-208-345-2929

The downtown Boise outpost of a family-run chain of about 20 sports bar/restaurant/brewpubs (currently in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, and Indiana). Lots of TVs for viewing games from the bar or restaurant seating.

The Big Horn Blonde ale is light and clean with just a hint of hops. The 71 Pale Ale is fairly mild at first, but has lots of hop at the very end. A "Short" beer is 18 oz. but looks far bigger. The sodas are similarly generous.

The menu includes salads, sandwiches, and lots of burger creations, some of which seem overly complicated. I didn't see any build-your-own choice on the burgers, but also did not ask.  The burgers are flame grilled, which gives them a good classic taste, are very generous (1/2 lb probably), and relatively sloppy given their complexity.  Medium rare ended up closer to rare, but medium well came out just right.

The Border burger had lots of sliced Jalapeños (including seeds and ribs), which provided some decent heat, but the salsa wasn't realy memorable and the cheese was virtually absent.

The sweet potato fries are passable but not stellar - could be a little crisper, and they seemed to be significantly flavored by the cooking oil.

The decor is a somewhat upscaled Marie Calender's, with brickwork columns by Gaudí.

Overall a decent place for a burger and a beer, especially if you're hungry after a cold day on the slopes at Bogus Basin.

Brewforia

Brewforia
78 Eagle River St.  Suite 165
Eagle, ID 83616
(208) 938-6261

Stunning variety of beers available by the bottle (they claim something like 350 different beers available), covering pretty much any style or region one could imagine.  10 beers on tap, with the selection chaging frequently and drawing heavily from craft-ish brewers of the western states like Stone, 21st Amendment, Firestone Walker, Salmon, Grand Teton. Seasonal brews from larger houses like Sierra Nevada also in the mix.

On a recent visit, tried the Westmalle Trappist Dubbel (33cl) and the Ninkasi Oatis Oatmeal Stout.  The Westmalle is a fairly straightforward representation of a Belgian dubbel, with good malty flavor and creamy head, but seemed to lack the distinctive Belgian yeast character that makes Trappist ales so interesting.  Perhaps that's partially a result of the smaller bottle - would be interesting to try it side-by-side with a 75cl to compare.  The Ninkasi is a very rich, dark oatmeal stout, very smooth and slightly sweet.

The belly burger is an interesting combination of beef and a little pork belly, giving the burger a nice soft texture despite being cooked well-done.  A nice solution for folks that don't like their burgers rare but still want something tender and jucy.

The old south pork sandwich is one of the better pulled pork sandwiches in the area, with good but not overpowering smoky flavor, and the pork isn't dried out or tough (always difficult to get the right balance ).

The red chili was somewhat disappointing.  The texture and flavor are not far from canned tomato paste.  Maybe it would be ok on chips/nachos, but not something to try by itself.  The green chili on the other hand was much more of a success.  Very good roasted chili flavor, tender pork.  No real heat to it.

The soft shell crab po-boy had two expertly fried crabs - nice light crunch, very tender.  Great flavor overall.



The flatbreads are also generally winners, although the crust was a little undercooked and tough on one of the flatbreads we tried.

Decor is very minimalist and industrial.  Definitely not a cozy corner pub but, with the stunning beer selection in the wall of fridges, the decor is likely to not get noticed all that much.

Doug's Burger Den

Doug's Burger Den
231 East State Street
Eagle, ID 83616
(208) 939-3300

A somewhat dated looking burger joint, but the food is reasonably good for what it is.  Good basic burgers and sweet potato fries (not on the permanent menu).  Choice of regular or curly fries also, but haven't tried those yet.  Will have to go back for those and perhaps one of their hot sandwiches (Philly, steak, chicken, etc).

Drive-thru service isn't terribly fast, but presumably they're making the burgers to order so can't really complain about that.  Skip the McDonalds around the corner and go to Doug's instead.