Here’s where to do Super Bowl parties in Boise: Free food, free beer, big prizes

No special plans for the Super Bowl? No problem.

Boise bars and restaurants are providing some serious “option football.”

There will be cool giveaways. Free food and beer. Shot specials. Gift cards.

I’ve compiled a sample of the fun below. This roundup is not intended to be comprehensive. But it does illustrate that some businesses try harder than others to lure patrons. (Come on, Yard House. The only special you’re doing is a Late Night Happy Hour at 9 p.m.? After the game ends?)

By the way, the Super Bowl airs at 4:30 p.m. on Fox.

▪ Here’s something 49ers and Chiefs fans both can root for: Free food. The Silly Birch, 507 W. Main St., will offer a smorgasbord catered by The Shed bar and grill. “We will have a fantastic buffet free to all of our patrons,” manager Ben Spellman promises. We’re talking pulled pork sliders, housemade jalapeno-bacon mac ‘n’ cheese, little smokies, Asian-inspired meatballs and more. Don’t worry, health nuts: There will be veggies, too. (And chips and dip!) Game-long happy hour specials include $10 for all draft pitchers, $3 Alaskan Brewing pints, $4 El Jimador Tequila and $5 Pendleton Whisky. The Silly Birch plans to raffle off bar swag and other goodies, including a 55-inch smart TV. Now that’s a Super Bowl party.

▪ Sports pub Brixx Craft House, 7700 W. State St., will give a $24 gift card to the first 24 tables to use on a future visit. “It is our way of showing love and support for the tragedy involving Kobe Bryant,” co-owner Doug Baker says. Brixx also has a daily happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m. So during the first half of the Super Bowl, you’ll get $2 off featured cocktails, half off draft beers (except high-gravity brews and Guinness), $1 off house wines, $1 off well drinks and $2 off all appetizers ($1 off half orders of nachos or wings). Based on how quickly my wife and I crushed a recent order of Veggie Wings (beer-battered cauliflower), I’d recommend those in buffalo sauce.

▪ If you’re a fan of gastropub grub, Eureka!, 800 W. Idaho St., has you covered. During the game, customers can take advantage of a special offer. For $10, you get an order of signature wings (slathered in firecracker aioli or orange chile glaze) plus a pint of beer chosen from 20 permanent tap handles. Normally, the wings alone cost $11. Want another beer? There are 20 rotating tap handles, too. Beer prices range from $4 to $8. By the way, there are lots of TVs.

▪ Legends Pub & Grill, 7609 W. Overland Road at the Boise Spectrum, will host a party from 4 to 8 p.m. with drink specials including $4 pints of Deschutes beer and $5 Jameson products, including the new Cold Brew. Giveaways include a 4K TV and a Deschutes Yeti cooler.

▪ Taphouse bar and restaurant, 760 W. Main St., will feature $12 specials on local pitchers of beer including Mother Earth’s Caribou Blond Ale and Lost Grove’s First Sight IPA. Each year, Taphouse also hosts “Super Bowl Squares” games. The bar has 16 televisions.

▪ Longtime Boise beer destination The Dutch Goose, 3515 W. State St., will sell $7 domestic pitchers and have appetizer specials including $6 beef nachos $6 potato skins. Plus, every customer wearing San Francisco 49ers gear gets “buy-one-get-one-free” on their first pint of beer of each half.

▪ The Homestead Bar and Grill at 6275 N. Linder Road in Meridian — home of the Treasure Valley’s most insane bloody mary — will be rockin’. The sports bar will serve free unlimited Coors Light and Bud Light pints during the entire game. You’ll also be able to buy $5 Jameson and Deschutes products. The Homestead plans to raffle off a 50-inch TV, too.

▪ With two Treasure Valley locations, Buffalo Wild Wings will be a popular destination Sunday. (In Boise at 777 W. Main St.; in Meridian at at 3223 E. Louise Drive.) But the BWW promotion creating a buzz comes after the Super Bowl. If this game goes into overtime, Buffalo Wild Wings will give away one free order of boneless or traditional snack-sized or 5/6 count wings (depending on location) to any patron who visits between 4-7 p.m. Feb. 17.

This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 9:39 AM.