Address: 404 ParkCenter Blvd., Boise
Phone: 322-2838
Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday brunch
Cuisine: Contemporary diner food
Menu price range: $5.25 to $14.99
Date opened: April 14
Methods of payment: Checks, Visa, MasterCard are accepted
Wheelchair accessible? Yes.
Tidbits: Chef/owner Bill Green has big plans for Focaccia's future. He already has live jazz on Wednesday nights and plans to offer music on Thursdays and Fridays. He also hopes to open a deli counter with fine imported cheeses, meats and bakery items.
The breakfast nachos ($7.95) were delicious - and nuanced. And that's a word I never thought I'd use to describe nachos, breakfast or otherwise.
"Breakfast nachos" sound like one of the misguided culinary concoctions I came up with in college. That style of cookery fueled my higher education, but it's a cuisine I'm thankful to have graduated from. Still, after an early morning walk on the Greenbelt near the recently opened Focaccia's, I was hungry enough (or light-headed enough) to give them a try.
First off, these aren't your typical undergrad nachos. Instead, chef/owner Bill Green layers several napkin-sized, crisp-golden wanton skins with creamy white "Mexican pot beans," a bean dish Green came across in the '70s while hiking the back roads of Mexico. He says he makes everything from scratch at Focaccia's, and those beans add a depth of flavor you just can't coax from a can. Add scrambled eggs, avocado, some pico de gallo, red onion, a restrained sprinkle of cheddar, a drizzle of sour cream and you've got nachos with nuance.
The French Toast Egg Nest ($6.95) showed the same subtle touch. That egg is slipped into a hole cut in the center of a French toast slice, grilled over easy, and served with thick-cut bacon. The round toast hole, perched on top like a hat, made my wife smile.
There's a reason both those dishes were memorable: This isn't one of those cafe kitchens populated with short order cooks winging it for an absentee owner. On all three of my visits, Bill Green buzzed around his 3-month-old eatery like a dutiful parent, checking ingredients, fussing over displays, talking to patrons.
Focaccia's may be his first restaurant, but Green is no newcomer to the Boise restaurant scene: He cooked at Doughty's Bistro, Grape Escape, The Statehouse Inn, started his own catering company, and in April opened Focaccia's on ParkCenter Boulevard.
My wife and I ate breakfast on the pleasant outdoor patio, but on a too-hot afternoon we slipped inside for lunch. The dining room is cheery and spacious. A collection of chrome toasters, retro lunch boxes, food posters, and wine racks line walls colored the bright greens and yellows of summer produce. Our food was just as fresh.
The creamy pesto veggie soup ($3.95/cup) had just-cooked bits of green bean, carrot, broccoli and celery in a pureed pesto broth. A browned, puff pastry crouton floated on top. The roasted chicken pot pie ($8.95) came capped with its own golden pastry dome and its white-sauced interior - with chicken, cooked red onion, zucchini and an herb dusting - had that ineffable if unmistakable flavor that only comes from a kitchen that cares about food. Green says he's got a passionate crew back there.
Of course, caring doesn't ensure perfection. My wife's ham and cheese focaccia sandwich ($8.95) came between slices of the restaurant's namesake bread, but the deli ham was forgettable, even with a homemade basil aioli. On a dinner visit, the mild artichoke sauce covering my Rhone chicken breast ($12.95) was good but masked the delicate mushroom duxelles stuffed within that breast.
Still, those are minor quibbles. Green began serving dinner only a few weeks ago and revises the menu almost daily. And anyway, the rest of our meal was fine.
The New Age Focaccia Cooler ($10.99/bottle), New Age sparkling white wine served over ice and lime, was inexpensive yet surprisingly refreshing. The homemade samosas ($6.95), with Indian spices and cilantro dipping sauce, were tasty enough for one friend to consider ordering another plate as her main dish. The pan-seared pork loin with raspberry marinade and raisin onion chutney ($14.95) and the vegetarian spinach linguini ($10.95) entrees were equally good. All shared the unfussed-over, yet flavorful execution Green calls "wholesome comfort food with a twist."
I believe you can taste sincerity or cynicism in food, just as you can see it in art or hear it in music. Food absorbs not only seasonings, but the attitude of those who prepare it. These may not be the easiest days for restaurants in Boise, and it's easy to get lost in the bottom line, but at Focaccia's I taste the nuanced flavors of a kitchen still infatuated with food and cooking.
Guy Hand's "Edible Idaho" show can be heard on NPR News 91.5. E-mail him at guyhand@mac.com.
