The Milky Way officially closed it's doors on Saturday April 19th. Kris and I were join by Jadd and Tracy for one last harrah!
Kris will write more on the Milky Way later and I'm sure share with you the details of the wonderful food we had for our last meal at the Milky Way. This was Kris's favorite restaurant so it made for a very bittersweeet evening!
Good-bye Milky Way.....
Leah is right - this was a difficult time as my favorite restaurant faced the alarmingly frequent fate that awaits most Downtown Boise restaurants. For a downtown area that always seems very active and engaging (especially during the warmer months), it sure seems like too many seemingly successful restaurants are forced to shut their doors. I don't know if the lease costs are just too much for even the moderately successful restaurants, or if the slow migration of people to the genericized communities of West Ada County are hurting businesses downtown, or if it is the influx of the national chain restaurants that are taking away from the locally-owned establishments, but this sucks. Fortunately for us, new people seemed to be convinced that they can come downtown and open a restaurant and enjoy success that few others have experienced, so we continue to have numerous quality options that exist nowhere else in the state, but it would be nice to find a place that you enjoy and not have to worry if it will be around two years from now.
Ok, I am off my soapbox for now. The main reason for this post is to extol the virtues of the Milky Way and talk about how much we have enjoyed it over the years.
I am not sure that it is entirely logical to have this much of an attachment to a place where we really hold no stake, but it seems like we have been visiting the Milky Way on special occasions forever (even though it has probably only been 5-6 years). Whether it was to toast a new job, or a raise, or a bonus, or maybe to celebrate a birthday, or Valentine's Day, or an anniversary, or maybe something as simple as wanting a great meal with a nice bottle of wine after a long day at work, we always seemed to end up at The Milky Way. We went other places for those types of occasions as well, but usually after much deliberation, we knew we would always enjoy ourselves there, so we made our walk over to tenth st. to enjoy what Chef Milky had to offer that particular night. We had actually discussed going there once my most recent project here at work reached a significant milestone, but once it reached that particular milestone, I thought we may still put off our visit because we were both so busy and we could save a little money in the near-term. The very next day, I got the e-mail saying that they would shut their doors after dinner service that saturday, so I scrambled to ask Leah if she could make the reservations. It seems like many others had that same idea, so we were lucky to get in on their last night. Jadd and Tracy were kind enough to join us that evening, and all four of us savored our meal for our last celebration at The Milky Way.
I am not quite sure what one thing really drew us to this place over so many of the others. The food was always wonderful - I never had to settle for an even average meal, and maybe that consistency is part of the allure. I always thought that they were able to make some very special dishes with what seemed like relatively ordinary food - I am not big on the high-end restaurants that try to do all sorts of special things with really fancy ingredients to the point that the end dish doesn't even sound good (whether it tastes good or not, I will never know, as I don't want to spend $50 on a meal that I may or may not enjoy). I could always look at the menu at The Milky Way, and while I may not think to put together some of the flavors in their dishes, I would know that the flavor combinations would always be good and the food would be prepared very well. However, if for some reason, I wanted to make small changes to the dish, they were always happy to accommodate my requests with great success. I think my sister, Heather, hit it on the head when she described their food as "gourmet comfort food".
The wine was also a big part of our experience at The Milky Way. We had two of our all-time favorite wines recommended to us during meals there: The A. Rafanelli zinfandel, and the Dunham Cellars cabernet. Their servers were always very knowledgeable about the wine, and while they didn't always suggest all-time favorites, their suggestions always met our expectations and fit well with our meal. I am amazed at how difficult it is to find servers that know enough about their restaurant's wine selection to pair it well with your meal every time - I have somewhat struggle to find that here in Boise, but have even had experiences at high-end steakhouses in Vegas where the server could not give good advice on wine. To make the wine experience even better, The Milky Way had exceptionally reasonable prices on every wine in their library. Most restaurants here in Boise will have about a 2x markup over retail for any of their bottles of wine, and it can reach as much as 2.5x for some restaurants (Chandlers and Barbacoa come to mind). The Milky Way kept their markup at about 1.5x from the time we first dined there to the last day. While that doesn't seem like a big deal, or maybe it just sounds like me being cheap, it really allowed us to try wines that we wouldn't have the opportunity to try at the other places. This made a huge difference and really opened our eyes to some of the nicer wines we have tasted.
Of course, you have a hard time saying something nice about this restaurant without talking about their martinis. While their original bartender had moved on by the time they shut their doors, he was responsible for making the best gin martini I have ever tasted. While you may not believe that one gin martini would differ much (if at all) from another martini made from the same gin, you would be wrong. His 10-minute martini really is that much better than any other gin martini out there.
Well, I will wrap it up here. However, this whole situation got me to thinking - I need a new favorite restaurant. I am in the process of coming up with the criteria, and once I have it finalized, I will be sure to post all of it for you to see. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions, please feel free to pass them on - I am starting with a clean slate for everything, so I will be considering all entries.
