Idaho Eats guide · Basque · checked October 2026
Idaho Basque restaurants
Chorizo, croquetas and solomo: 7 Idaho restaurants, bars and markets that cook Basque food, six of them in Boise. We read each one's 2025–26 menu or a recent local news story in October 2026, and every listing names its dishes and, where a source documents it, the year it opened at this address.
Basque food in Idaho, briefly
Basque immigrants from the Pyrenees, on both sides of the Spain–France border, came to Idaho from the late 1800s on, many to herd sheep in the high desert, and Boise still has one of the largest Basque communities in the United States. Its center is the Basque Block, the stretch of Grove Street downtown between Capitol Boulevard and 6th Street, with the Basque Museum & Cultural Center, the Basque Center and several of the places below. The food is hearty: chorizo, croquetas, solomo (marinated pork loin), lamb, beans and paella.
Where the Basque places are
Six of the 7 are in Boise.
Dishes these menus name most: croquetas (5), chorizo (2), pintxos (2), banh mi (1), basque meatballs (1), braised lamb (1).
How this list was made: for every place we read a 2025 or 2026 source, usually its own menu page or a dated story in Idaho news, and matched the street address to it. A place whose only source was older, whose website had gone dark, or whose menu named the dish just in passing stayed off. Review sites played no part, and the places run by region and town, not by anybody's score. Menus change, so check before you go. Our sources are on the about Idaho Eats page.
On an iPhone or iPad, Idaho Eats puts this same list in order of distance from wherever you're standing, and a tap on a place brings up Apple Maps' card with today's hours, photos and directions.
Other guides: Idaho finger steaks & drive-ins, Idaho spud plates, Idaho huckleberry: where to eat it, Idaho trout restaurants, Idaho taquerías, Idaho historic saloons & supper clubs, Idaho James Beard honorees, Idaho's oldest restaurants, Idaho restaurant inspections. City pages: Boise, Meridian, Nampa, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Caldwell, Coeur d'Alene, Twin Falls, Post Falls, Lewiston, Rexburg, Eagle, Moscow, Sandpoint, Ketchum, McCall, Hailey. Regions: North Idaho, North Central Idaho, Southwest Idaho, Boise, McCall and Mountain Home, Magic Valley and Wood River, Southeast Idaho, Eastern Idaho.
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Basque questions
Where is Boise's Basque Block?
On Grove Street in downtown Boise, between Capitol Boulevard and 6th Street. The places on this list with a Grove Street or Capitol Boulevard address are on it or next to it; their addresses are with each place.
What is solomo?
Pork loin marinated with garlic and paprika, then grilled, often served as a sandwich with roasted red peppers. It's a Basque-Idaho staple, and the menus here say which places serve it.
What are croquetas?
Small fried croquettes with a creamy filling, often ham or chicken. 5 of the 7 places here list them.
Why isn't my favorite Basque place here?
The list grows as places are checked. A place is in only when a 2025 or 2026 source shows it serving Basque food at this address. Tell us at nick@eatsranked.com.
Boise, McCall and Mountain Home
7 Basque spots, by town. The Boise, McCall and Mountain Home page has the region's other lists.
Ansots Basque Chorizos & Catering
560 W Main St, Boise
James Beard nomineeBasque On the menu: chorizo, croquetas, marinated solomo, txistorra, Basque meatballs, patatas bravas, cod and clams in salsa verde · Since 2020
The Ansotegui family's chorizo maker and lunch counter in the Pioneer Building in Old Boise, a block from the Basque Block.
Bar Gernika
202 S Capitol Blvd, Boise
Basque On the menu: croquetas, chorizo, lamb stew, lamb grinder, pork tenderloin
Corner pub on the Basque Block whose owner, Jeff May, told Boise State Public Radio in 2025 that croquetas are its most popular item.
Basquenese
370 S 8th St, Boise
Basque On the menu: croquetas, solomo fries, banh mi
Basque and Vietnamese counter inside The Warehouse Food Hall downtown.
Leku Ona
117 S 6th St, Boise
Basque On the menu: txipirones en su tinta, braised lamb, lamb sandwich, croquetas
Basque restaurant, bar and small hotel at the edge of the Basque Block.
The Basque Market
608 W Grove St, Boise
Basque On the menu: paella, pintxos, imported Basque goods
Basque grocery and pintxos counter on the Basque Block that cooks paella outdoors at noon on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Txikiteo
175 N 14th St, Boise
Basque On the menu: pintxos, chorizo sandwich, charcuterie board · Since 2018
Pintxos and wine bar in the Linen District, a few blocks west of the Basque Block.
Epi's A Basque Restaurant
1115 N Main St, Meridian
Basque On the menu: croquetas, red beans, Grandma Epi's garlic dressing
Basque dinner house named for the founders' grandmother Epifania 'Epi', now owned by her great-grandson, chef Erik McFarland, who bought it in 2019.