Omega and Alpha

This will be the last Treasure Valley Treats and Tragedies post.  I'm not quitting blogging, but honestly it's time for a change.  The main reason is that I'm just plain sick and tired of this site.  The name is the worst part, believe it or not. I thought the hyperbole was cute when Ms. Golden Rule and I came up with it (her suggestion was Treasure Valley Treats and Travesties, I just changed the last word), but I have a hard time meeting someone's eyes at an event when they ask for the name of my site. I mean a mediocre or bad meal is hardly a "tragedy", especially in a time when it seems like real tragedies are a daily occurrence.  It makes the name seem extra cheesy, and not the kind of cheesy that I like.

There are other issues.  I don't like that I've saddled myself with a name that limits me to a certain geographical region, especially when I write quite a bit about things outside of that region and end up feeling guilty for doing so.  I'm tired of spending hours on each blog post trying to make them seem more professional (or at least more family friendly).  I'm bored with the design capabilities of this platform (Blogger).  Hell, I'm tired of feeling like I'm only "allowed" to write about food (trivia FYI, my initial desire was to start a "bad movie" review blog).  All of these things have contributed to the lack of posts over the years.  If I don't enjoy doing it, what's the point?

The upshot of all of this is that in very short order (fingers crossed), my new site Good Taste / Bad Taste will be live at goodtastebadtaste.com, I'll let you know when it happens.  My posts will still be primarily about local restaurants, of course, but I'll no longer feel bad when someone says "Why do you post about places in other states so often?".  There will also be posts about movies, music, books, events, games, and anything else I feel like throwing whatever influence I have at bringing attention to.  The writing will be more of an "off the cuff" style, so you can also expect more profanity and off-color humor, because honestly that's a more accurate representation of who I really am.

Of course I recognize there's going to be a downside for some, or probably even the majority, of my readers.  I know a lot of you would rather just see pictures and reviews of Boise area restaurants, or even just restaurants in general, without seeing reviews and screenshots of horror TV shows, or kung fu movies, or comic books, or whatever else.  I did think about cancelling my Facebook and Instagram accounts and setting up new ones for that reason, but it's honestly more work than it's worth so I'm just rebranding them.  I mean I follow so many ostensibly foodie accounts where about a third of the posts are essentially advertisements or posts about beauty products and health supplements or whatever, but I like the food posts so I just scroll past the rest of it.  I anticipate a lot of unfollowing and unsubscribing, but maybe some of you will stick around to see how it turns out.  I fully expect that this new freedom will result in me posting more often in general, primarily local eatery write-ups as I said before, but I know that won't be good enough for some.  But who knows, if you can be patient I might in the end decide this has all been a horrible mistake, and it will end up just being a food blog again...

I don't know how much longer I'm going to leave this site up in its current form.  It might be easier to just leave it as an archive, or I might import the posts to the new site and redirect this site's traffic to that one (assuming I can figure out how to make that work).  In the meantime, as a parting gift for those of you who will be going bye-bye, here are some pictures from restaurants that I didn't feel like formally reviewing, and from return visits to restaurants I've already written up.  Granted, most of them have already been posted on my Facebook feed, but they've long since been buried unseen by most thanks to Facebook's idiotic algorithm.  Happy trails...

Tsukemen from Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya in Beaverton, OR

Brisket, pulled pork, and chili cheese fries from Big Daddy's BBQ in Meridian

Dim sum from Red Maple Chinese Restaurant in West Valley City, UT

Sushi from Shige Japanese Cuisine in Boise

Fondue and Meriwether cider from Melty Melty Cheese Night at Whole Foods Boise

Dungeness Crab Sea Pups from Ocean Bleu at Gino's in Newport, OR

Animal Style Double Double and fries from In-N-Out Burger in Draper, UT

Phở from Baguette Deli in Boise

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Taste of Mahider combo from Mahider Ethiopian Restaurant & Market in Salt Lake City, UT

Swedish Cured Salmon Benedict from La Maison Bakery and Cafe in Newport, OR

Thai beef jerky from Pad Thai House in Boise

Big Daddy's Barbecue 2: Electric Boogaloo

Well my last review was kind of lame, seeing as how it was basically a photo gallery with a few random comments, so of course I figure why not do the same thing again?  I first encountered Big Daddy's Barbecue when they was serving up delicious meats from a shack in front of Cabela's (read about it here).  I've stated on more than one occasion since then that Hoss makes the best pulled pork to be had in the Boise area, and my feelings about that haven't changed one iota.  When he picked up and moved his operation to Kuna a few months later, I was crushed.  Where was I to get a barbecue fix on my lunch breaks now?  Fortunately for me, he built up enough of a following to take a location in Meridian that had housed a couple of failed Hawaiian eateries and turn it into a place where I can get those delicious porcine shreds six days a week.  There's not a lot to say that I didn't say the first time around, so what follows will once again be a selection of pictures, ranging from crappy (old camera) to not-quite-so-crappy (camera phone) to moderately okay (new camera).  Yes, I finally got a new camera, and I fully expect my pictures to improve as I get used to it.  The best thing about it is the speed, with my current record from "power off" to "decent picture" being just under three seconds.  But enough about my limited photography skills.  Let's look at some meat!

Big Daddy's Barbecue

*Edit* - Big Daddy's is now located on Meridian Road in Kuna.

If there's one thing that's painfully obvious throughout this blog, it's that I'm obsessed with pork.  I just know that Lipitor is in my future.  I'm not a big fan of your basic porkchops, but bacon, paper thin shaved ham, sausage, carnitas tacos,  bacon,  Chinese barbecued pork, shumai and all the other wonderful Asian dumplings, pork fried rice, bacon, prosciutto, pancetta, bacon...I think I may have mentioned bacon more than once.  Where was I?  Oh yeah...

One of the things that brings me to an intense and immediate feeling of bliss is barbecue, specifically smoked pulled pork topped with a splash of barbecue sauce done really well.  When I find out about a new barbecue joint, I simply have to try it.  Hell, I even got the burger that's topped with pulled pork at Famous Dave's!  And that's why when I first spotted Big Daddy's Barbecue, a little stand sitting next to the Cabela's on Franklin Road in Boise, I almost stopped immediately.  Even though I was on my way to someplace else for lunch!  From that moment forward, I was unable to get it out of my mind, and the few days between then and my being able to return was very annoying to me.  Finally though, I made it back.  But was it worth all the self-induced hype?