Meridian nightlife’s no downtown Boise. But with another new bar, it’s ‘coming around’

As a Boise bar owner, Todd Asin knows that Meridian doesn’t have a nightlife equivalent to downtown in Idaho’s capital city.

There’s no 6th and Main scene. No bar-hopping zone crawling with fresh-faced young adults.

Not yet.

“No,” says Asin, who just opened The Alpine Bar at 130 E. Idaho Ave. in Meridian.

“But,” he adds, “it is kind of coming around.”

Located in the former Pauly’s Bar Room — directly across the street from the 127 Saloon — The Alpine adds new drinking diversity to an area rich with potential. As Meridian grows, Asin believes, so might its concentration of downtown bars and restaurants.

“I’m not expecting a 6th and Main,” he explains, “but I would love it if that Idaho Street becomes more like an 8th Street of Boise. ... I think it would be pretty cool.”

“Hopefully, I’ll be able to open some more stuff,” suggests Asin, who also owns The Atlas Bar in downtown Boise and co-owns The Royal Cocktail Co. in Hyde Park.

With dark booths, exposed brick walls, a pool table and an everyman vibe, the 2,200-square-foot Alpine is not unlike his small downtown Boise bar: “I call it ‘big Atlas,’ ” Asin quips.

Open from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week, The Alpine is designed to be universally appealing — with beer, wine and cocktails ranging from blue-collar to specialty. “Just a very laid-back environment,” Asin says. “But it’s still nice. I definitely don’t want it to be called a dive bar. It’s not a cocktail bar, either. It’s just a bar.

“With just the pricing and everything, I like to be that middle ground. I’d rather people come have two or three drinks rather than one because of the price.”

The Alpine Bar is still so new that the exterior sign hasn’t been installed on the building. Asin hopes to offer a small patio out front. The bar definitely will feature a sizable patio out back, too — half covered, half open. “I’ll do some fans and TVs out there,” he says.

Meanwhile, word is spreading about The Alpine. It helps to share foot traffic with the bustling, also new 127 Saloon and other nearby businesses.

Not so far in the future, perhaps the entire area will be teeming with bargoers?

And a second Meridian bar opened by Asin?

“If this one goes well, I would do it,” he says, “yeah.”