Eating and drinking in Idaho Falls: downtown, Broadway and 17th Street

Most of the places to eat in Idaho Falls line up along a handful of long commercial streets. Once you know which street you are on, you know roughly what is near you. This guide is built from the addresses in our own restaurant, bar and coffee listings, sorted by street, with a few notes on what to order that you will not find everywhere.

We have not eaten our way through these places and we do not rank them. Nothing below is a recommendation of any business. It is a map.

East 17th Street

East 17th Street carries more food and drink addresses than any other street in our data, a little over 40 across our food categories. They run from the 500 block out past the 2400 block, on the east side of town. The Grand Teton Mall, open since 1984, sits at 2300 East 17th, and a few of our listings share its address.

The mix is broad. General restaurants account for the most, with bakeries, coffee shops, Mexican, Asian and pizza places all well represented. If you are staying at one of the Channing Way hotels near the mall, this is the street within reach.

West Broadway

West Broadway comes second, with about 30 food addresses, most of them between the 1200 and 2000 blocks. Pizza is heavier here than on any other street in our listings: seven of our 20 pizza listings have a West Broadway address. Three of our bars have a West Broadway address too. If you are in one of the West Broadway hotels, this is your street.

South 25th East

South 25th East, in the southeast part of town where the ZIP codes turn to 83404 and 83406, holds about 20 food listings spread along a long stretch of road. Restaurants lead, with coffee, Asian, Mexican and a pair of American places in between. None of our bars are on it.

Downtown

Downtown is smaller in count and different in kind. It is compact enough to walk between places, and it is where the bars cluster. Ten of the 23 bars in our listings sit within about four-tenths of a mile of Civitan Plaza on Park Avenue. Two of our three brewery listings are within the same short radius, near the river.

The restaurants, coffee shops and bakeries downtown sit along Park Avenue, Shoup Avenue, A Street and Memorial Drive, with a few on River Parkway by the River Walk. A handful of addresses hold two or three listings each, usually a shared building with a unit number.

The other strips

First Street holds about 16 of our food addresses, and six of them are Mexican, as many as on all of East 17th Street. Woodruff Avenue, about two miles from downtown, has another 16 or so, spread along both North and South Woodruff. Lindsay Boulevard, where most of the river hotels are, has a dozen, including three bars and a brewery. North Yellowstone Highway has 11 more.

Mexican has more listings than any other cuisine category we carry: 40. Barbecue, steakhouses, Italian and breakfast places are thin by comparison.

Things to try

Finger steaks. Strips of steak, usually top sirloin, battered and deep fried. They are common in bars and restaurants across the Pacific Northwest and tied closely to Idaho, where the usual story credits a Boise bar called the Torch Lounge with serving them first in 1957. That credit is disputed, and at least one rival story puts their birth near Lewiston during the log drives. Either way, if a menu here lists them, try them.

Fry sauce. Ketchup and mayonnaise, mixed. It came out of Utah: Don Carlos Edwards made it at his barbecue place in the early 1940s and took it to the first Arctic Circle drive-in in Salt Lake City, which opened in 1950.

Potatoes. They are one of the crops of the Upper Snake River Valley around Idaho Falls, along with sugar beets, peas, grains and alfalfa, and russets are grown just to the north of town. A baked russet here is not a novelty. It is local produce.

Buying a bottle

Idaho runs spirits sales through the state. The Idaho State Liquor Division holds a monopoly on every alcoholic drink over 16 percent alcohol by volume, so a bottle of whiskey or vodka comes from a state liquor store rather than a supermarket.

Getting home

If you are drinking, leave the car. Greater Idaho Falls Transit runs GIFT On-Demand, a shared ride you book through its app or by phone. It keeps set hours rather than running all night, so check them before you count on it for the ride back.

Using our listings

The Restaurants, Bars, Coffee Shops, Mexican, Pizza, Asian, American, Bakeries, Breweries, Barbecue and Steakhouses pages each list what we hold, with the street address, so you can see what is on the strip you are closest to. We carry no menus, prices, ratings or hours. Call ahead, especially on a Sunday or a holiday.