‘Blessed’ since moving to Boise area, ex-Nevada couple to open 7th restaurant
When David Aboud and his wife, Ashley Ferguson, moved from Winnemucca, Nevada, to Meridian to launch their first expansion restaurant, it was a gamble of sorts.
Nearly two decades later, they’ve hit a slow-but-steady Idaho jackpot.
Early next week, the breakfast-and-lunch chain will open its sixth Treasure Valley store and seventh overall, including the original lone Nevada location. The newest Griddle will be at 616 Main St. in Caldwell, part of the Tilian apartments building next to Indian Creek Plaza. Kindred by the Creek wine bar is in the same complex.
It will be the second Griddle to open this year. In January, the mom-and-pop brand took over the now-defunct Gino’s Italian Ristorante at 3015 N. McMillan Road in Meridian, near the intersection of Ten Mile Road.
“This valley has blessed us countless times,” Ferguson said. “With the people we’ve met, with the team that works for us, for our expansions, this valley has been really good to us.”
‘Good cookin’
The Griddle is one of the area’s most successful local restaurant stories. After that initial Meridian store opened 18 years ago, Eagle came in 2009, Boise in 2012 and Nampa in 2017.
“Good cookin’ since 1948,” is The Griddle’s motto. Customers clearly agree. Idaho’s first Griddle at 2310 E. Overland Road has racked up more than 2,000 reviews on Google, earning 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Breakfast options run the gamut from Dads Hot Cakes (“family recipe from scratch,” the menu says), waffles, crepes and french toast to eggs, omelets, benedicts, biscuits and gravy — and tons more. Customers can even spice things up with Mexican options ranging from huevos rancheros to a breakfast burrito.
Lunch is packed with all sorts of sandwiches (BLT, french dip, Reuben) and hamburgers (patty melt, Jamaican jerk, jalapeno burger) to salads, tacos and more.
At the Griddle, food “is always made using fresh, locally sourced ingredients,” the chain promises. “This means no high fructose corn syrup, no dyes, no MSG, just real natural ingredients.”
Not done growing
Now downtown Caldwell will get a taste. “They’re developing that area, and it’s looking really nice,” Ferguson said. “And we decided to give it a try.”
Not that it will satisfy The Griddle’s appetite for expansion entirely
Discussions have begun about possibly opening a restaurant in Twin Falls, Ferguson said. Plus, she and her husband have bought a building on Orchard Street in Boise.
“So we may turn that into a Griddle,” she said. “... For us, expansion’s all about opportunity. When opportunity presents itself.”
This story was originally published September 18, 2025 at 4:00 AM.