Have you ever wondered exactly how many miles Nampa is from Boise? Is it 20, 19, 15 or 18.7? Those are the numbers I got when I Googled it.
When I called Peggy at Nampa Mayor Tom Dale's office, she didn't know the exact number of miles. Peggy sent me to Jay Young. Jay works in GIS and computer mapping. But Jay didn't know the answer, either. He explained that the city limits for both cities changes all the time. Jay sent me to Ross Dodge. Ross works at the Community Planning Association.
Yay — Ross had the answer. He said the mileage from Boise city limits to Nampa city limits is about 8 miles.
My husband Bob and I made that trek in 9 minutes flat. It's a bit of a rut race, but the point is, Nampa is just a hop, skip and a jump away from Boise.
Thick as a BrickWe were famished from all that driving, so Bob and I stopped in at the new Brick 29 Bistro, 320 11th Ave. S. It's in the refurbished brick Masonic Temple. The bistro's name is an homage to the building and the Masons who regularly met there — Lodge 29.
The restaurant's modern-meets-classic decor isn't so much pish-posh as it is comfortably elegant. Frosted crystal chimney glasses of ice water garnished with cucumber slices came to the table.
"Now, that's really refreshing," Bob said.
The lunch menu reflected the bistro's tagline: "comfort food reinvented." There are all kinds of familiar-sounding sandwiches, but here the meatloaf sandwich is house-ground chuck with fresh herbs, currants and walnuts on toasted ciabatta with onions, smoked cheddar and horseradish aioli — $6.50.
There's an updated mac and cheese — wheat penne pasta tossed with cheddar, Monterey Jack, mozzarella and blue cheese, $8.50. Fish and chips also gets a re-do with herb-and-citrus-stuffed Hagerman tilapia with a lemon caper aioli, $10.
The catch of the day was a basil-crusted Oregon snapper fillet with tomato-caper butter sauce, the pulled-pork pizza comes with smoked gouda, caramelized onions, braised pork and poblanos — and the steaks all get special treatment, too.
Appetizers on the dinner menu include ancho chili shrimp cocktail, a double cream brie in puff pastry with rhubarb chutney and, yum, Scallops Rockefeller — scallops topped with spinach, bacon and parmesan cheese.
So, how can you choose with all these mouth-watering dishes on the menu? "Just reading about all this food is driving my stomach crazy," Bob said.
We made our decision: a soup and a salad.
I got the French onion soup, $4.50. Finally. A French onion soup that stands up to its name. A steaming tureen of just the right amount of onions swimming in a rich, dark, beefy broth, capped with a crouton and just the right amount of gooey cheese. Oh. My. Gosh.
"This is SO good," I said, trying not to slurp.
"Oh, yeah? Well, try this," Bob said, pushing his cup of tomato bisque ($3!) my way. It was like a tomato, basil, bruschetta and feta cream cloud — soft and velvety-rich.
When our server Fabiola (named after the queen of Belgium) brought our salads out — I had the Crab Cake Louie salad, Bob got the Chicken Apple salad — Chef Dustan Bristol and his wife, Keela, stopped by our table.
Bristol is a graduate of Boise State University's culinary program and most recently was the chef at Murphy's in Boise. He took his wife and most of Murphy's crew with him to Brick 29. "We're all kind of like family," Bristol said.
Keela Bristol had her sights set on moving and living in Europe when she first started dating Dustan.
"I thought I wanted to live in Bristol," Keela said. Now, she's happy sharing the Bristol name with Dustan and their 8-month-old son, Beau.
On his business card, Dustan lists himself as the "first cook in space." That's just Dustan's sense of humor, Keela said, although one world-traveling customer swears the food here is the best in the world.
" ‘It's out of this world' sounds more spacey," Bob said.
The salads were both mouth-wateringly and indescribably delicious. Mine was a layered bed of baby romaine, black olives, wedges of hard-cooked egg and asparagus spears, laced with creamy Louie dressing. On the top were nestled three plump crab cakes. Di-vine.
Bob's salad was butter leaf lettuce adorned with a few handfuls of Granny Smith apples, chopped toothpick style, Kuna grape tomatoes and tender broiled chicken, dressed with gorgonzola blue cheese and walnut vinaigrette, sprinkled with caramelized-sugar walnuts atop.
"You can't have any," Bob said.
"That's OK, I'll get it next time."
And while the serving size here is ample, we had no trouble eating every last morsel.
I even made Bob share a dessert — creme brulee, my favorite. And it was perfect. Stained-glass sugar on top, creamy custard heaven below.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Monday through Saturday; closed on Sunday. Tip: Even though this is a pretty big place, you might want to call for reservations — for lunch, too: 468-0029.
Off the deep endWill and Pamela Levenson met about 12 years ago in Boise. They both lived in the North End; Will worked at Flying Pie.
Fast forward. Today, the Levensons live in Portland. Will works in real estate finance and Pam is a swimsuit designer. Her suits are inspired by the past. She describes them as "somewhere between the Copacabana of the '40s and Ipanema today."
It all started when she was going on a trip to Cancun, Pam said. "I needed a suit and got frustrated by what was available, so I made my own."
Then Pam started making suits for friends, and now you can get Poppi Swim and Sport swimsuits at her store in Portland, on their Web site, at Roaring Springs in Meridian — and at H2O With a Kick, 1314 12th Ave. S. in Nampa.
I was so excited about getting a new suit.
But — gulp — swimsuit shopping is not something to be taken lightly. "Bob, I'm not sure going swimsuit shopping after eating all that food is such a good idea," I said. "It should be just like the not-going-swimming-after-eating rule."
Thank goodness the store was closed (it was Monday). But I went back, sans Bob and on an empty stomach — for maximum skinniness — the next morning.
Pam's suits put me in mind of Esther Williams and those glam synchronized swimmers. Not only did I find a great suit, I got the most darling flowered swim cap, too.
Store hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday.
For Men OnlySince Bob wanted to get a new straw hat for summer — he already has his swim suit — we stopped in at Nafziger's For Men, 1309 1st St. S.
It's a blast from the past — literally. David Lancaster has been working in "the last store in the Valley that has Sansabelt slacks" since he was in high school — almost 50 years ago.
It's in The Commercial Building, one of those grand dames built at the turn of the 20th century in 1907. It's been the Post Office, a grocery store, offices for doctors and dentists; and for the last 60 years, it's been Nafziger's.
You can get made-to-measure suits here — "just like they do in Hong Kong," I said.
It's as much a community center as it is a clothing store. "People love to come in here," Lancaster said. "We tell stories. ... "
Lancaster's wife, Joan, works here, too, and, among other things, does all the window displays — "and we still get along," Lancaster said, laughing.
It's a charming, floor-creaking, old-school men's clothing store that hasn't been remodeled since the 1960s.
"We still rent tuxedos, and one (high school) kid said, when he returned his tux, ‘I can't wait till I grow up so I can buy my clothes here," Lancaster said, laughing.
"I buy my clothes here — and I haven't grown up yet," Bob said.
Store hours: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday.
Next week: Boise. Jeanne Huff: 377-6483Photo courtesy Poppi Swim and Sport
"We believe you don't have to ‘show it all' to be sexy." Poppi Swim and Sport swimsuits feature a retro-inspired look.
