Letting the food speak for itself. Mostly.

I've talked extensively about how badly I suck at this blog thing.  You might not agree, or may even never have noticed.  I do think I do a good job of faking it after all, and every time I say that I suck I invariably get at least one IM, e-mail or Facebook comment assuring me that it's not the case.  To those people, I'd just like to point out that I POSTED LESS THAN A DOZEN REVIEWS IN THE ENTIRE YEAR OF 2012.  And trying to maintain anonymity while snapping off a quick pic or two, often in less-than-ideal lighting, before digging in so I can actually enjoy the food at its prime means that those pics often turn out badly.  Still, I'd like to think that I'm gradually improving as time passes, and as we approach the fourth anniversary of this little project's life I've noticed a pretty drastic oversight on my part.  See, once I've written about a place, I'm kind of "done" with it.  I may still go there (though I mostly feel driven to move on to the next new eatery, I get sentimental about certain places), and even take a picture or two, and sometimes I'll even post those pictures on Facebook.  Well, it's occurred to me that a lot of the people who read my reviews here might never see those pictures (especially with Facebook's increasingly idiotic algorithm bullshit).  I don't often do follow-up reviews, so basically at this point I'm putting those pictures where a couple hundred people might see them if I'm lucky before they get sucked into the void and buried.  And unforgivably, I'm also guilty of this behavior in relation to events like the Food Truck Rally, where I've taken to just posting on Facebook rather than doing yet another website review and therefore have tried things from newer vendors there that I've never given the courtesy of writing up here.  That's just not fair to me, the restaurants involved, or the people who are searching for information someplace other than Facebook.  So, here's a bunch of pictures I've taken over the past year or so, all dishes I enjoyed, from eateries that are still in business, and captured in not completely horrifying images...

Wanna Cluck Around?

Awesome event coming up!

What:  Taste208
When:  Saturday, May 12th, 6:00-10:00 PM
Where:  Riverside Hotel, 2900 W Chinden Blvd
Why:  To showcase regional craft beers, wines and spirits (so 21 and over, obviously)
Who:  This is where it gets fun...

Evil Genius Food (a Food Truck Rally follow-up)

Just wanted to get a little deeper into a few of the more interesting things I've eaten lately, and the Food Truck Rally is a good place to start...

Care for a few amuse-bouches?

Here's some random food stuff that is interesting me at the moment...

1)  There's another, bigger food truck rally going on this Thursday (September 1st) downtown at 4th and Grove.  The festivities will be from 5-9 PM.  Unfortunately, I'm probably not going to be able to make it myself, but that doesn't excuse the rest of you.  Here is the list of participants:

Archie's Place
B29 Streatery
Boise Fry Company
Brown Shuga Soul Food
Calle 75 Street Tacos
RiceWorks

I've reviewed all but one of these and pretty much adore all of them, so I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it will be an amazing evening.  There will also be beer by Payette Brewing and music by Hillfolk Noir.  What more convincing could you possibly need?

2)  Chris the Saladman, of Fair, festival and roadside truck fame, will be setting up permanent digs in his own restaurant starting October 1st.  Chris' on Broadway will be located, well, on Broadway.  The State Street spot the truck has been parked at is now vacant, and if you want street food from Chris, the Hyde Park Street Fair will be your last chance.  After that it's strictly brick and mortar, baby...

3)  Yet another Chinese buffet is getting ready to open, this one in the Shopko plaza on Fairview and Milwaukee.  The interesting thing about this one is that they're pushing the fact that they will offer sushi pretty hard.  There's no set date for the grand opening of City Buffet (did any of my fellow South Park fans giggle at that?), but there is a website with menu and the beginnings of an online ordering setup so you can get an idea what you'll be in for.  As for me, Chinese food AND sushi just a stone's throw from my office?  You can bet I'll at least have to check the place out, even if I'm keeping my expectations relatively low.

And on a personal note, I've noticed a couple of odd things regarding this site.  First of all, I'm getting a LOT of hits from Russia lately.  No idea why.  Secondly, my Native Taters review is getting a lot of hits lately, is there something going on with them that I'm unaware of?

Archie's Place

Okie dokie kids, I'm going to do one more quick write-up before taking off to spend the weekend in Portland.  I haven't hopped on the smart phone bandwagon yet so I'm going to be largely incommunicado, except perhaps for random, stream of consciousness text posts to my Facebook page.  Before I go foraging for exotic foodstuffs not indigenous to the greater Boise area (like good doughnuts and dim sum), I had to throw in my two cents on an up-and-comer to the local food scene which has already been generating a fair amount of attention: Archie's Place.

Hmm.  I wonder what they sell...