This growing chain wants a restaurant in every downtown in Idaho. You’re next, Nampa.

Dan Landucci might be a local business owner, but he has regional ambitions.

After signing a lease to open a fifth Paddles Up Poke restaurant — his first in Nampa — the 29-year-old is still hungry for expansion.

“I’m starting to lean toward — putting one in every downtown throughout the state would be cool,” he says in a phone interview.

It’s not so far-fetched. Paddles Up is beginning to explore the Gem State like a school of fish. And customers are getting hooked.

A Boise State graduate, Landucci opened his first location in 2017, serving raw, marinated tuna and salmon in downtown Boise. The menu of customizable rice bowls, burritos and nachos built a following. So he licensed a second store in Meridian in 2018, then launched a Ketchum location in 2019. In January, he returned to his alma mater and opened a restaurant at BSU.

Nampa was a natural next step, Landucci says. The menu — loaded with Hawaiian-style fish, plus shrimp, smoked chicken, tofu and more — has tempted taste buds across the Treasure Valley on social media.

“We’ve been getting a lot of love from Nampa — a lot of interest — for a while now,” he says. “It’s all chains and tacos out there. There’s nothing like us. ... No healthy food, quick-service options.”

Despite living in Boise since 2007, Landucci had never visited Nampa until last summer. Closing the deal last week was his third trip ever to Idaho’s third-largest city.

Downtown was not what he expected. “It just blew me out of the water ...,” he says. “Being a 1A downtown Boise guy, you don’t think that 2C’s downtown is going to be that cool.”

Paddles Up will be at 1217 1st Street South, joining a group of other newly opened food-and-drink hangouts: Mesa Tacos + Tequila, Holy Cow! burgers and 2C Family Brewing, as well as veterans such as PreFunk beer bar.

The 2,800-square foot space should be open by June, Landucci says — just in time to take advantage of patio dining.

After that? He might start thinking about Paddles Up Poke casting a wider net — into other parts of the state.

“I think I could see something in Twin (Falls),” Landucci says. “And maybe downtown Coeur d’Alene. That would be cool.”

Online: paddlesuppoke.com.

This story was originally published March 2, 2020 at 9:05 AM.