Bluffside Butchery

*A lunchtime review is a shorter review, less indepth on the flavors and service, but rather we focus on whether or not this restaurant would be a good place to grab a bite to eat, and enjoy some repose from a busy day.*

Atmosphere 

Bluffside, a recently opened restaurant, butchery, and market, is conveniently situation on Bogus Basin road. It opened only a few weeks ago and is already making a name for itself in the Boise area. On the inside, it is an open, modern, and sophisticated restaurant with an open seating area, meat counter, and market. The market had different brands of wine, hard alcohol, and other adult beverages. It also had some smaller goodies; chips, chocolate, seasoning and sauce all included. The inside feels very fresh, with exposed rafters and touches of ornate wallpaper, it seems like everything a butchery in Boise's North End should be. Although the inside feels a bit different than some of the other restaurants we have reviewed, it also feels new. We like that. When we first decided to review this restaurant, we thought of it as a butchery first, market second, and then a restaurant third. We were wrong, the market was third, restaurant second, butchery first. This our guess as to what Bluffside was hoping for, which is good.

Food

Although its a smaller menu, with only 10 items, we believe it accomplishes everything it needs to. With a little bit of something for everyone, especially with the option to add chicken, tri-tip, or ny strip to salads, and picking any of the 7 sides that come with a sandwich. The food came out quick, which was good since the rush picked up as soon as we ordered. The presentation on the food was lively and fresh. We had the Spring Berry Pecan Salad and Smoked Pepper Turkey Sando. The salad was tasty, but we thought there was room for improvement, the goat cheese was easily bunched up, and the vinaigrette seemed clumped up as well. Both the goat cheese and vinaigrette were very good, just unevenly dispersed. This made for an unconsistency between bites. The overall flavor was the unique saltiness of goat cheese, sandwiched by sweetness on both ends. It was good, but didn't wow us. The sandwich on the other hand, was prepared very well. The turkey was the star of the show, moist and a good temperature, it offered a smooth flavor that was supplemented by the cracked pepper crust. The crust made for a bit of crunch and an additonal flavor with each bite. The fattiness of the avocado and swiss cheese were the second flavor we could taste, a nice mix of textures and the nutty hints of the swiss cheese added to the turkey to create a new flavor, which we liked. The bread, a usually overlooked ingredient, played its part perfectly, a way to hold all these flavors together. 

Value

The value wasn't terrible, $14 for the sandwich and $13 for the salad, we thought it wasn't cheap or expensive, kind of right in the middle. A perfect price for what your get. The quality of the ingredients was high and the taste was good, so we won't knock it in the value category. 

What We Got

• Smoked Pepper Turkey Sando

• Spring Berry Pecan Salad