‘Makes me want to cry’: We asked which Boise restaurants you miss, here’s what you said

Last week we asked readers to tell us which now-closed restaurants you miss most in the Treasure Valley, and you didn’t disappoint.

Whether your favorite spot closed a decade ago or just last summer, Boiseans have a long memory for their favorite food spots around town. We received over 40 submissions of popular area restaurants that shut have their doors for good at one point or another.

One restaurant consistently singled out by readers was Brick Oven Bistro, which closed in 2013 after 28 years in business. Owners Stephanie Telesco and Jeff Nee claim they served over 2 million meals during those 28 years, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.

“Everything was homemade and delicious, the best gumbo ever,” Boise resident Terri Franks told the Statesman via the survey.

“Wild rice meatloaf with sage nut dressing and creamy corn gravy over all of it, pepper Parmesan dressing, and a generous scoop of muffuletta on my salad. The wheat sunflower bread made fresh every day,” Franks continued. “Apple bread pudding with bourbon walnut sauce for dessert. Just putting all this in writing makes me want to cry.”

Another reader, Michael Quinlan, said he misses the citrus-marinated chicken and carrot cake the most.

For those who want another taste of Brick Oven Bistro, Telesco and Nee published a recipe book in 2014 titled ‘Two Million Meals Later: House Recipes from Boise’s Brick Oven Bistro.’

More recently, many Treasure Valley residents are mourning the loss of Bella Aquila in Eagle.

The locally-owned restaurant first opened its doors in 2009, according to previous Statesman reporting, but closed in December 2021. Co-owner Amy Cooper said that operating the restaurant during a pandemic became “unbearable.”

Treasure Valley resident Barbara Nelson told the Statesman that she misses the patio, food and ambiance the most — Bella Aquila had a small waterfall on its back patio, which backed onto the Boise River Greenbelt.

Here are some of the other restaurants you told us you wish you could dine at one final time. Restaurants with hyperlinks will take you to a story about the restaurant’s closure.

• Ben’s Crow Inn

• Bier:Thirty

• Desert Sage

• Doughty’s Bistro

• Egg Factory, Boise

• Great Steak

• Hyde House

• Kiwi Shake & Bake

• Macaroni Grill

• Manley’s Cafe

• Murphy’s Seafood and Steakhouse

• Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom

• Pho Tay Vietnamese Restaurant

• Pollo Rey

• Red Steer

• Rockies Diner

• Shige Japanese Cuisine

• Old Spaghetti Factory

• Superb Sushi

• The Dutch Goose

• The Gamekeeper

• Wok King Chinese Restaurant

• Top Wok

• Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe