After ‘kicking a**,’ Meridian restaurant closed. Now a new ‘full-throttle’ concept opens.

After opening at The Village at Meridian in 2019, The Donut + Dog got off to an encouraging start.

It “was kicking ass,” cofounder Will Primavera remembers fondly. “We were doing really good numbers.”

Then, like so many restaurants this year, it got its butt handed to it. After closing the breakfast and lunch destination this spring, and then reopening, Primavera and his wife, Nicole, finally pulled the plug. An important chunk of business had come from nearby office workers, Will Primavera says, many now working from home because of the pandemic. Confident in their concept, the Primaveras plan to relocate The Donut + Dog to downtown Boise in 2021, he says.

Meanwhile, the old Dog has been taught new tricks.

Sid’s Garage opens Friday, Nov. 6, in the reinvented 1,900-square-foot spot at 3525 E. Longwing Lane. Aside from the Primaveras’ fondness for sweet and savory foods, the Sid’s Garage concept is “a 180” from its predecessor, Will Primavera says. Offering lunch and dinner, the menu is built around hedonistic hamburgers, mind-blowing milkshakes and beers poured from a row of handles favoring West Coast breweries.

“We call it full-throttle comfort food,” Primavera says. “It’s burgers, brews, shakes — just like it sounds. Our burger, though, we’re taking something that is already good, and we’re trying to make the wheel a little rounder.”

The Donut + Dog’s roll-up garage door remains, but Sid’s Garage is an entirely different animal. With darker colors, exposed brick, a hint of steampunk decor and rock music on the sound system, “we’re trying to give it kind of that back alley vibe,” Primavera says. There’s even a bar area with a couple of TVs.

All hamburgers ($10.50-$11.25) are half-pounders made from a Wagyu beef blend from Snake River Farms’ Double R Ranch. They are, Primavera says, “comfort food to the extreme.” Take the Not So Whimpie ($10.50), which is topped with candied jalapeno bacon, aged cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and burger sauce, served on a brioche bun.

Sid’s Garage also offers choices such as Lip Smacking Chicken Wings ($12, with either “firecracker” or sriracha bourbon sauce), Ultimate Mac & Cheese ($11, with “quad” cheese sauce and candied jalapeno bacon bits) and three salads, one with seared yellowfin tuna that’s “really damn good,” Primavera adds. He expects the Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich ($10.75) to be a winner, too. It comes with house spice, Asian slaw, pickles and “bang sauce” — house sauce made from sriracha aioli and spices — served on a brioche bun.

Donut + Dog fans will be happy to see the return of the Elote Loco Hot Dog ($8.75), a Mexican chorizo with street corn and lime. And don’t forget to grab a side of Crispy Tots ($8) with slow-roasted pork belly, beer cheese, bang sauce and that deliciously ubiquitous candied jalapeno bacon in them.

Leave room for a “colossal shake,” Primavera warns. There are eight, costing $11 or $12. “We’re taking shakes to a level the Treasure Valley’s never seen,” he brags. “And then we’re putting the same components, sweet and savory, in it.”

The Midnight Munchies ($12), for example, has a “paraphernalia” edge, he admits with a laugh. Made with quality vanilla ice cream, brown butter glaze, a huge rainbow lollipop and a glass rolled in Fruity Pebbles, it’s definitely going to provide a sugar high.

Sid’s Garage is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It’s closed Monday and Tuesday. Takeout is available, and delivery is planned before the end of the year.

To add to the room’s “kickin’ vibe,” Primavera says, they also hope to add live music in 2021.

Before moving to Idaho, the Primaveras launched a Donut + Dog in Nashville. It’s still open. They have another restaurant concept they plan to debut in Hawaii soon, too, Will Primavera adds.

But for now, the focus in the Boise area is Sid’s Garage — and feeding Wagyu beef to happy, hungry faces.

“The burger is the big hot button,” Primavera says, “and what we’re taking a lot of pride in.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 11:30 AM.