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America 250: Famous Idaho Ice Cream Potato helps put Boise landmark on the map

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America 250: Famous Idaho Ice Cream Potato helps put Boise landmark on the map


Westside Drive In has been serving burgers, fries, and milkshakes from its corner at State and 21st streets for decades. Many know them for their Famous Idaho Ice Cream Potato.

The dessert, which resembles a baked potato complete with toppings, has helped put Westside Drive In — and Idaho — in the national spotlight. The sweet treat has been featured on national television and has become one of the state’s most recognizable culinary creations.

“This is the greatest drive-in in the United States of America, bar none,” said longtime customer Victor Miller.

WATCH | “Food, fun and fifties”—

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Famous Idaho Ice Cream Potato helps put Boise landmark on the map

The novelty dessert offers a sweeter version of Idaho’s most famous crop. Made to resemble a baked potato, it has attracted attention from customers across the country and around the world.

The restaurant’s roots stretch back decades, but its modern identity took shape after Chef Lou Aaron purchased the business in 1994.

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“When I bought the West Side, I thought I got to make this 50s [themed],” Aaron said. “So we came up with a little slogan, and the slogan was, I mean, when you think of fun, and happy days, you think of 50s.”

Now, Aaron’s daughter Emily Bolton and son Josh Aaron help oversee operations, continuing the family legacy.

“We both grew up working, you know, I cashiered, he cooked, and we both laughed and said never again, and then here we are,” Bolton said.

The restaurant’s profile grew even larger when Food Network personalities, including Guy Fieri of “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” featured Westside Drive In and its signature dessert.

“He says, you know, you better be ready because the people are gonna be flooding in here after this episode airs,” Josh Aaron recalled. “And he came here and really put Boise on the map by, you know, featuring us and all the other restaurants that he has the last few times he’s been here.”

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For customers like Miller, the appeal goes beyond the food, “It’s a special Idaho place. It’s like a place that identifies Idaho, Boise, and it’s put us on the map.”

While families continue gathering at the restaurant for a classic American dining experience, Aaron says Westside Drive In also serves another purpose.

As someone in long-term recovery, Aaron has made hiring people facing difficult circumstances a core part of the restaurant’s mission.

“I’m an alcoholic, and I’ve been clean for 36 years now,” Lou Aaron said. “Someone picked me off the ground when I was in the gutter, and it helped change my life. So, almost 90% of our employees at both places are either out of prison, in prison, homeless, you name it. So, we try to help them to rehabilitate them.”

Customers say that commitment to helping others is part of what makes the restaurant special.

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“That’s what West Side is about,” Miller said. “It’s about second chances and the lives that he has improved and saved in a lot of ways by giving people another chance in life.”

For the Aaron family, preserving that mission is just as important as preserving the menu.

“You have so many memories here. We have so many customers who’ve been coming here since they were kids,” said Lou Aaron. “It’s more of an institution than it is a restaurant. We will never sell it. I’ll always be in the family.”

Today, Westside Drive In continues serving customers at both its original State Street location and its Parkcenter Boulevard restaurant — carrying on a legacy built on food, family and second chances.





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Idaho leaders mourn the sudden passing of Senator Lindsey Graham

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Idaho leaders mourn the sudden passing of Senator Lindsey Graham


U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo and U.S. Sen. Jim Risch issued statements mourning the sudden passing of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, remembering him as a friend, colleague and influential conservative lawmaker.

“For most of my public service in Congress, I had the privilege of calling Lindsey Graham not only a colleague in both the House and Senate, but a loyal and generous friend,” Crapo said. “He was a formidable public servant who held the line on issues important to him and South Carolinians with unwavering courage.”

Crapo highlighted Graham’s military service and foreign policy work, saying, “As an Air Force veteran and foreign policy hawk, he traveled the world demonstrating America’s strength and resolve. To our nation’s allies, he was a friend. To our adversaries, he was unflinching.”

Crapo also pointed to Graham’s work in the Senate, including his leadership on budget issues and his role on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Lindsey was a staunch conservative, and he shepherded the Senate Budget Committee through the critical steps of the budget reconciliation process,” Crapo said. “His work put more money in Americans’ pockets and kept our homeland safe. On the Senate Judiciary Committee, he safeguarded the federal judiciary and conducted much-needed oversight.”

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“Senator Graham enriched the lives of those of us who knew him,” Crapo said. “He will be deeply missed, and I offer my sincere condolences to his family, staff and other loved ones during this difficult time.”

Risch and his wife, Vicki, also expressed condolences, calling Graham “a dear friend and colleague whose warmth, humor, and unwavering dedication to public service will be deeply missed.”

“He loved America deeply and devoted his life to serving our nation and fighting for what he believed was in its best interest,” Risch said. “We extend our deepest condolences and are praying for his family during this difficult time.”



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Idaho’s Most Unusual Listing: A Pair of Medieval Castles Complete With a Dungeon and Drawbridge

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Idaho’s Most Unusual Listing: A Pair of Medieval Castles Complete With a Dungeon and Drawbridge


Idaho is not a place that’s often associated with Medieval castles, but a pair have just hit the market for $6.25 million. 

The imposing stone structures have towers, turrets, ramparts, arrow-slit windows and even a drawbridge, and might just be the most authentic-looking castles this side of the Atlantic. 

“Who expects to see a castle like this in Idaho?” said listing agent Brenda Burk of Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty, who brought the property to the market last week. They are, she said, “extremely unusual.”

MORE: Late PBS Anchor Jim Lehrer’s Historic Washington, D.C., Home Lists for $5 Million

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Schweitzer Castle and Château de Melusine, as they’re known, stand within Schweitzer Mountain Resort in the Selkirk Mountains and overlook the nearby mountain resort town of Sandpoint. They take in panoramic views of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho’s largest lake. 

The pair of ski-in/ski-out homes each have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and three stories, Burk explained. They are “so authentic,” she said. “Every single stone was handlaid.”

Schweitzer Castle, she said, wasn’t built for “functionality,” but has been modernized and adapted and now has everything a 21st-century residence requires, along with a dungeon, which for some buyers may also be a requisite. 

MORE: Arizona’s Most Expensive House—With an Indoor Go-Kart Track and Shooting Range—Sells for a Record $40.2 Million

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The chateau, meanwhile, has a hot tub room with mountain views, as well as a garage.  

The property is being sold furnished, and will come complete with the hand-carved statues, armor, mounted swords, stained-glass windows and a host of antiques dating to the 15th and 16th centuries.

The owner, an antique collector who couldn’t be reached for comment, “is always looking for that hidden jewel and he found that here,” Burk said. 

The next custodian is likely to stem from a varied pool of buyers, Burk said, that would include “the trophy-home buyer, someone who can say ‘I own a castle.’” 

The property could also appeal to someone looking for a vacation home, or a multi-generational estate, and beyond that “there’s the dreamers,” she said. “We definitely try to market to people who like Medieval history or maybe do Renaissance fairs.”

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The seller “really wants it to go to someone with the same passion.”



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Idaho Falls fire causes damage to homes and multiple vehicles

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Idaho Falls fire causes damage to homes and multiple vehicles


IDAHO FALLS – A fire in Idaho Falls Saturday afternoon caused $10,000 in damage to a small home. Idaho Falls Fire Department spokeswoman Hayli Egbert tells EastIdahoNews.com it started 1:30 p.m. on West Broadway Street and Trolley Way. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it involved multiple vehicles, outbuildings, fences, trees […]



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