San Francisco is foodie heaven, with some establishments serving cuisine that may not even exist yet. But for some reason, the city by the Bay didn’t have much in the way of good Indian food in the 1990s. When you had to have it, the best bet was a trip across the Bay Bridge to Berkeley, where good and varied Indian cuisine remains plentiful.
But for those in on it, the not-so-secret alternative was to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, exit the freeway in Mill Valley, tool along a frontage road for a few hundred yards, and park at the Travelodge. Tucked inside the unpromising exterior was India Palace, not just good but great Indian food, affordably priced and hiding in plain sight.
In the culinary world there’s something uniquely attractive about diamonds in the rough — restaurants that wear a plain face but have a heart of gold. And just such a surprise has been slowly making its name in the competitive Boise market for a good steak.
Longtime residents only need a few words to find it: the old Holiday Inn on Vista by the freeway. Holiday Inn sold the property to Ardent Hotels, and now it goes by the name Boise Hotel and Conference Center, but the freeway is still the freeway. But what’s inside changed a great deal.
The restaurant for hotel guests has gone by several names over the years — some will remember it as The Simmering Pot, or Cassidy’s — but since March 2009 has operated as Castle Ranch Steakhouse, an upstart making a claim on serving the best steak value in town.
The word “value” matters a great deal here. The claim to the best steak in town is a fight too big for this page, and if Ruth’s Chris Steak House ever gets around to opening a location here, Boiseans will get a lesson in the staggering ala carte economics of high-end beef. No, the word is value. Or as the Boise Hotel’s Phil McDonald plainly puts it, “It’s a good price for the amount and style of steak we’re serving.”
The secret at Castle Ranch is no secret at all: good beef cooked over high heat and served simply. The good beef at Castle Ranch comes exclusively from the Double R Ranch, a family ranch a few miles below the Canadian border in north-central Washington. The antithesis of a feedlot, the Double R brand is owned by Boise-based Agri-Beef and boasts great credibility for its sustainable ranching practices and Northwest focus.
“Double R Ranch raises the beef, start to finish,” observes Chef Jack Charles. “It’s an excellent product. Everything we get here is either top-third choice cuts or prime cuts.” That means great marbling and flavor, and that sometimes the essence of Charles’ job is to take those great cuts and not screw them up.
For the 18-ounce rib-eye that means salt and pepper, a few turns on the grill, and a little rest. For steak lovers, it’s that simple. And at a price comparable to other steakhouses in town, that simple plate includes a medley of seasonal vegetables and a choice from a few potato-based concoctions.
Castle Ranch has been attracting a growing cast of regulars largely on a few good reviews and word of mouth. It’s certainly neither location, location, nor location that’s bringing people in. The restaurant opened while construction crews were still routing traffic around cones while building the new Vista Avenue overpass.
Even with that over, it can be a task to see the restaurant’s sign from the street. And for the duration of the college football season, there’s a collapsible white tent in the parking lot for hosting Boise State tailgate parties that obstructs the restaurant entrance.
That seems to suit McDonald, Charles and the hotel just fine. McDonald has a restaurant and hotel to help run, and Charles has a pretty good gig that comes with a space outside to grow fresh herbs and vegetables for the restaurant. On the south side of the building, the garden has a great view — of the freeway, of course.
Boisean Rick Overton studied the social sciences at Boise State University and obtained a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to magazines such as Wired and Outside, but he is known among his friends mostly as being an able hand in the kitchen.
