Third restaurant in 3 years opens in familiar Boise spot. But this one’s ‘legit’
Joseph Aguirre has spent years making street tacos for a living, but he considers himself a Dickey’s Barbecue Pit fan.
So when four Treasure Valley locations shuttered in 2024 — a period that saw the chain downsizing nationwide — Aguirre was bummed.
“There was one in Garden City that was by my house, and it closed down,” he remembers. “I was a little bit sad. I was like, ‘Oh man.’ ”
When the opportunity to bring Dickey’s slow-smoked brisket back to Boise presented itself recently, Aguirre knew what he had to do. On Thursday, he and his wife, Jasmine, will officially open Dickey’s as franchisees at 6565 W. Fairview Ave.
“I just couldn’t pass it up,” Aguirre says.
Located at a familiar dining spot on Fairview, it’s in relatively new construction. The building materialized from the ashes of a longtime Mexican restaurant that burned in 2019. Since then, Meltz Extreme Grilled Cheese (2022-2024) has come and gone. So has the latest tenant, Matty G’s Steakburgers & Lobsta’ Rolls (2024-2025), which shuttered there last summer.
Compared to its predecessors, Dickey’s has more meat on the bone. Competition-wise, only one Dickey’s remains in the entire Boise area, in Star. And Dickey’s has name recognition. It’s the nation’s largest barbecue chain. As the slogan says, it’s legit — “Legit. Texas. Barbecue.” Founded by the late Travis Dickey in Dallas, the brand has grown into a household name over 85 years.
Dickey’s will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week with dine-in service, a drive-thru window and third-party delivery available. To make the business even more attractive, the plan is to position it as a local gathering spot — a place to “just hang out.”
“Of course, it’s a Dickey’s restaurant,” Aguirre says, “but we’re going to make this more into a community hub and make it more family-friendly, and like a place to get away a little bit for the kids and for the family. We’re going to create events here, like paint nights, karaoke nights … trivia nights.”
Aguirre, who has operated Thinking Tacos? mobile food stand and catering since 2017, prepared for his new role by going through “Barbecue University” training, he says. Customers will find all the Dickey’s favorites at the restaurant, whether it’s combination meat plates, hefty sandwiches or decadent sides.
Thinking Tacos will still be around. But the focus right now is barbecue, Aguirre says. Especially during these final moments before hungry customers walk into the restaurant.
“Just organizing, cleaning,” Aguirre says, “trying to get this place where we need it.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2026 at 4:00 AM.