Yo, Betty Crocker: Another Boise dive bar reopened. Hey, what’s that odd sign on the side?

Hoping to keep up with the Boise bar scene during the pandemic?

Following today’s scatterbrained column might be easier.

Some alcohol-slinging places are open. Some are closed. Some have strange new signs that you haven’t noticed because you’ve been quarantining in your closet for months.

Case in point: What’s with that “Han’s Chimaek” sign adjacent to the Broadway Bar on the west side of the building? Who is Han? What is “chimaek”? Why is this mysterious oasis offering fried chicken and beer until 2 a.m.?

Before we address this topic, please join me on a not-so-brief detour.

Let’s acknowledge that Boise has never had more pizza joints than it does right now. Thanks to bars reopening as “restaurants” with a food establishment license, Idaho’s capital city suddenly is packed with more questionable pepperoni than a Hot Pocket.

The Broadway Bar, a landmark dive for decades, is now Boise’s newest pseudo-pizzeria.

God bless the Broadway.

Bring on the microwave

Boise bars are supposedly shut down, right? For better or worse, they were closed by order of Central District Health. Yet many continued to operate, because they served food and qualified to be open as restaurants under the agency’s guidelines.

Frustrated by the order’s inconsistency, closed bars have started acquiring Betty Crocker Easy-Bake Ovens. They apply for their own food establishment license. They reopen as a “restaurant,” with Central District Health’s blessing.

OK, I exaggerate. Maybe it’s, like, a microwave oven. Or a toaster?

Whatever the case, the shutdown order — as enforced — clearly doesn’t make tons of sense to everyone.

I’m not here to judge. (I swear!) Just report. And I can objectively state that one of the latest bars to reopen is the Broadway Bar, 1712 S. Broadway Ave. It returned to action earlier this week wearing a pizza chef’s apron.

Judging from the Facebook photo of the Broadway’s first culinary masterpiece, Flying Pie Pizzaria is in deep-dish trouble.

I am sooo kidding. (OK, the Broadway’s puffy little square pizzas probably are delizioso after four or five pints.)

That said, better watch out for the slices at Humpin’ Hannah’s, which reopened downtown last weekend!

Actually, a bar-turned-restaurant taste test might be fun. I read on social media that the Fireside Inn’s pie is “on point.”

Still. Hungry for cheap shots of tequila? Walk through that Broadway Bar door confidently. You might stagger out.

Hungry for ... Korean fried chicken and beer? Peek around the west side of the Broadway Bar building instead.

Chicken and beer? Yes, please

Han’s Chimaek opened at 1716 S. Broadway Ave. this spring. It’s located next to the Broadway Bar’s old “Lounge” sign and doorway instructions: “Broadway Bar patrons please use north entrance.”

Although it resembles part of the bar, that space along Broadway Avenue has held restaurants for years. Most recently, it was K-Fusion Korean BBQ & Grill.

When Ryeongmin Han bought K-Fusion, he transformed it into Han’s Chimaek. He opened April 30, after the COVID pandemic had begun.

Han fled North Korea for South Korea at 17, he explained in a phone interview. He attended the College of Western Idaho from 2016 to 2018. He mostly enjoyed the Treasure Valley. One problem: “When I was going to college, I also liked drinking at night time,” said Han, 23. “Late nights, there was no place that you could get decent fried chicken.”

After returning to South Korea for about a year and half, Han came back to Boise with a mission to open the city’s first chimaek haven.

Chimaek (pronounced “chee-meck”) is wildly popular in South Korea. “Chi” is Korean for chicken. “Maek” is an abbreviation of “maekju,” meaning beer.

Korean fried chicken rules. The only way to comprehend its magnificence is to devour it yourself. Double-fried, flavorful, sweet or spicy — it’s simply killer.

And let’s be honest here: My own experience with Korean fried chicken is limited to a chain that opened last year at 650 S. Vista Ave.: Vons Chicken.

Han doesn’t want to brag that his is better. “I’m not gonna say it officially,” he says. “But you know what I mean? I’m confident enough in our food.”

“Man, you have to try ours.”

Han’s Chimaek is open from 4 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, and noon to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Like most restaurants right now, business isn’t booming, Han admitted. Most orders are to-go. The Han’s menu also is available using delivery through Uber Eats and DoorDash.

But he’s optimistic about his crispy chicken and modest lineup of draft beers.

“Most people who come in, they love it,” he said. “Once people know about our place, I’m pretty sure we’ll probably have a lot of customers.”

And if, just if, you’re not in the mood for Korean fried chicken?

As long as the bars are closed, you’ll always be able to find pizza nearby.

▪ Online: hanschimaek.com.

This story was originally published August 27, 2020 at 3:50 PM.