Despite ‘stupid-good’ food, this restaurant closed in Boise. Guess what? It’s coming back
A popular Meridian restaurant that expanded to Boise before closing the location is taking another swing — this time on the Bench.
Big Daddy’s BBQ plans to open near the intersection of Orchard Street and Overland Road at the start of summer, the restaurant posted on Facebook. It’s the former Andrade’s (and Shakey’s) building at 4903 W. Overland Road.
“So, so excited to come back to Boise and meet all of our new neighbors and customers,” Big Daddy’s proclaimed on social media.
Big Daddy’s is a well-known Treasure Valley brand. After selling smoked brisket from a food truck for five years, founders Hoss and Khaseta Grigg made the leap to a Meridian restaurant in 2012. Within three years, they outgrew the spot and hauled their barbecue grills to nearby 1551 W. Cherry Lane.
The family-run operation opened a Boise restaurant in 2018 on West Fairview Avenue near Five Mile Road, but it shut down at the start of the pandemic and never reopened.
Then Hoss Grigg unexpectedly died in late 2020.
But Big Daddy’s lived on — thanks to his wife, Khaseta, and daughter, Kersten. And so does the family’s enthusiastic spirit.
Shortly before his death, an upbeat Hoss Grigg told me that the fleeting Fairview restaurant had been “a good learning experience.” Despite offering menu items that were “stupid-good,” as he described one particular tater-tot creation, the space had been hindered by difficult vehicle access, he said. And when COVID hit, the business “took an absolute beating,” Grigg explained.
Nowadays, judging from foot traffic at Big Daddy’s in Meridian — and the announced Boise expansion — business is just fine.
Start working up an appetite, Boise. Summer isn’t that far away.
