'Land of Famous Potatoes,' Texas Roadhouse & History Rekindled
“Do you want to go with us to Pocatello?” That was the question from my daughter, Aubrey. Her family, University of Montana football season ticket holders, planned to make the 375-mile trek to watch the Griz play at Idaho State.
“Heck yeah!”
The first stop on our trip was an overnighter with family in Rexburg, 80 miles from our game-day destination. As we rolled into town, we hit dinner at Millhollow, self-touted as the oldest homegrown restaurant and the first to bring both frozen yogurt and toasted sandwiches to town. Millhollow sandwiches are basically “build your own,” which I did – ham, banana peppers, EXTRA pickles (always!) and honey mustard. And I washed it down with a smooth Just Peachy smoothie. All good! If I had one regret, it’s that I didn’t see orange creamsicle on the billboard menu. Oh well, next time.
On game day, we had a delicious pancake feast at my brother’s house which scuttled any pregame lunch plans (which was A-OK in my book) after arriving in Pocatello, a pre-game snack was on the docket. We stopped by Jamba Juice, a business we don’t have in our town. We ordered a carload of smoothies. My choice was the mango-a-go-go with the following ingredients: pear white grape mango orange passion juice blend, mangos and pineapple sherbet. Tasty indeed!
Our highlighted meal, and the one we talked about before ever leaving town, was our post-game dinner on the way home in Idaho Falls. In my book, Texas Roadhouse has it all – meat, atmosphere, rolls, rolls and rolls! Man, those warm, butter-topped rolls are a weakness of mine – a most welcome weakness, that is.
Since man cannot live on rolls alone (even though he can try, try, try again), this one ordered a house salad with honey mustard dressing, steak fries and a half rack of fall-off-the-bone ribs. Of course, that came with a precursor of four baskets of rolls and an order of rattlesnake bites or, in other words, diced jalapenos and jack cheese, lightly fried with ranch or Cajun sauce for dipping. I partook of a tasty bite dipped in the spicy Cajun sauce but couldn’t get carried away because I knew what was on the way (and what sat in the roll basket in front of me).
The ribs easily lived up to their billing. There was no need to use a knife or pick up the ribs because, well, the meat just fell off the bone. And can you really beat flavorful BBQ meat that is so soft and so tender that it just falls off the bone? I did leave the majority of fries on the plate when I was done because I knew I wasn’t really done. I ate the last roll and that was that.
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| BBQ meat on the bone |
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| What's left over after the meat fell off |
The last time I visited this same restaurant was also with my son-in-law Kenny several years earlier. We were trailering a truck from southern Utah and since he was driving, I’d promised him I’d pay gas and for his meals. His only request was to hit this Texas Roadhouse on the way home. Before and during our dinner, we each pounded down the rolls. As we got our check, I asked for one final order of rolls for the road (because that’s what you do when you rarely get to visit a Texas Roadhouse).
“Good call,” Kenny said. “Aubrey loves those rolls and we can take them to her.”
“Really? You really think they’ll make it home?” I mockingly asked, after all we had a five-hour drive home still ahead of us.
They were gone (and in my belly) not even 10 minutes after we were back on the interstate. I think I ate six of them that night. Or was it eight?
(Note: Missoula is in the process of getting its own Texas Roadhouse. #bringit)
She said: (didn’t make the trip with us)
By the way…Idaho State University’s football field is as amazing as it is historic. Opened in 1970, Holt Arena is the oldest enclosed on-campus college stadium in the country and the nation’s second-oldest indoor stadium overall. Only the Houston Astrodome, which closed in 2006, is older.
The domed building got its name from Milton W. “Dubby” Holt, longtime ISU athletic director who coached the 1957 national collegiate champion Idaho State boxing team (see photo). At the time, he also coached the swimming and track and field teams, which like the boxing team, competed on an elite level.
As I walked in to Holt Arena, my mind went back to my first and only other visit there 41 years earlier in 1981. I was a member of the Ricks College club soccer team. To make a long story short, I went with my brother a week prior to that Pocatello trip to watch him play at the BYU Invitational but he pulled me out of the stands because Ricks was short players. And that’s even though I really didn’t know the rules very well. One week later, we had a game at Idaho State and I was officially on the team. Below is an excerpt from my personal journal about it.
I made some shin guards out of cardboard and wore my Pony high-top basketball shoes to play on the Astroturf. In the first half, they had three penalty shots, missing one and the other two going off the goal posts. We only had 12 guys and they had a varsity and junior varsity team. I set up our only goal of the game when I was tripped up when running toward their goal with the ball. I slid on the turf leaving my knees puffy and red. We had a free kick just outside the box and a teammate scored. We were jumping and yelling all over the place. We led 1-0 at halftime. In the second half, ISU put in its junior varsity. With fresh players in, they scored a couple of goals and we ended up losing but we did beat their varsity 1-0.
A nice piece of personal history and a great memory rekindled on an historic field.
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| Me (left) and my brother Alan (1981) |
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| Post-breakfast pic with Alan and the family |
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