The Falcon Tavern | Boise, ID

The Falcon Tavern is just a bar. That might seem like an insult, or at the very least a mildly melancholy endorsement… but it’s not. Endorsement yes… melancholy no. It’s a corner bar that’s not on a corner. It doesn’t have more than seven or eight taps, but they’re good taps (mainly from the North West) and a few of them rotate with the season. The food might not impress a fur coat wearing, nose in the air trophy-wife type, but why would you want to eat in that kind of pub anyway?  This is a real pub, but it’s a pub that’s owned by a guy that knows food, and knows that taste is in the details.

When you donate blood they tell you to have a hearty meal afterward.  My go to post blood donation routine is to meet my wife after work at The Falcon for their half Kobe half Angus Puyallup Fair Burger.  Get it with Blue Cheese… and if you’re not from the Northwest, ask Chapelle (she wears hats sometimes) how to pronounce it before you attempt to order.  If it’s a cold afternoon, step on in through the thick, winter wind blocking curtains at the front door, and order a grilled ham and mozzarella which you SHOULD be dipping in your red bean and chorizo soup.   Try and tell me after that that’s not one of the best meals you’ve had all week.

The Falcon doesn’t sprawl but it’s not a hole in the wall either… maybe 500 – 600 square feet at best worth of sitting space. The bar is in the back corner at an angle.  Short tables are to your right along the windows that look out onto Idaho Street.  Tall tables are in the middle, and there are padded benches with more tall tables and pub chairs on the back wall. If I had to pick a place to call my place… this would be the place. It seems like I’m not the only one who feels that way.

If you sit at the bar in winter you should make sure to bring along an extra sweater or be prepared to wear your coat.  As thick as those curtains are at the door, a blast of cold air gets through every now and again. And if you’re at the bar, especially on the left side, you’re gonna get nailed. But you’ll soon find out that with the friendly as hell waitresses, bartenders, and the other patrons sitting along side of you… it’s certainly worth that icy gust every so often to be sitting where you’re sitting, and drinking what you’re drinking.