A fond farewell to Chiz’s on its final day

ST. ANTHONY – On the outside, the small yellow building that is Chiz’s Cougar Cave might not look like much, but looks can be deceiving.

The restaurant has been a hugely popular local destination for decades. And today it’s closing.

“It’s the best food in the valley and it’s going to be missed,” said Mykel Walker, of Rexburg, after a lunch at Chiz’s with some friends.

There is a lot of history at Chiz’s.

When you walk into the unremarkable cinderblock diner the first thing you see is an inviting atmosphere with a u-shaped old-fashioned counter with bar stools. For years, customers have queued to sit at those bar stools. The knotty-pine paneling around the room adds a cheery touch.

A sign with a mirrored surface welcomes customers to “Chiz’s Cougar Cave, established 1968, St. Anthony, Idaho, where food is great and friendships are greater.”

Akira and Chiz Kamachi started the restaurant that year, with Akira using his wife’s name for the place.

“When we came into town, he thought that no one else had a name so original like Chiz, so that’s what he did,” Chiz said.

It has always been a family enterprise, with Scott Kamachi and his wife, Glenda, becoming involved as the years went by. Chiz, now 90 years of age, said Akira passed away in 1987.

“I want to express to our customers and employees how everyone played an important part in our success and we’d like to thank them for the memories,” Chiz told EastIdahoNews.com.

Current owner Scott Kamachi said the reason for the restaurant’s long success in keeping customers returning is the quality that comes from fresh food prepared from scratch.

“The simple fact of the matter is that we use high quality products and we process it on-site,” he said, noting that they use their own recipes and techniques developed in their own kitchen.

“We don’t believe in copying somebody else across the street,” he said.

Although the basic formula of Oriental and American favorites has still been there, the restaurant has branched out into catering and also marketing its specialty sauces.

“We’ve evolved quite a bit since Mom and Dad had it,” Scott said. “We’re a three-ring circus, basically. Everything supported the other two legs. It has been a good business strategy and it has worked well for us over the years. We’re the first company (in the area) to basically bring in high quality seafoods and prepare them in innovative ways.”

Chiz’s specialty sauces and dips sauces are one of the restaurant’s hallmarks and is one of the main reasons the brand was bought out.

Marc Sunderland, one of the new owners, said even though the restaurant is closing — the brand itself won’t die. They have plans to market the Chiz’s sauces to an even wider market.

“We have plans to market the specialty sauces nationwide under the Chiz’s brand,” he said.

For the past couple weeks, lunch and supper times have been busier than normal as word has gotten around about the impending closure. Many customers say they have been coming to eat at Chiz’s since their high school or college days.

“We’re very disappointed that we can’t come here anymore,” said Ron Peterson of Newdale, as he and his wife, Helen enjoyed their meal. “We were gone for 21 years and we were looking forward to coming here often. And now we find out they’re closing. We’re happy they’ve had so many successful years. For a small town you don’t find this quality of seafood. I think it’s a unique place and I hate to see it close. …Whenever we have visitors from out of town this is one of the places we like to bring them because of its uniqueness.”

Helen echoed his regrets. “I came to this area as a teenager for college,” she said. “…The food has always been consistently good – we’ve never had a bad meal here, ever. The atmosphere’s fun. …It’s really kind of a sad day for the whole valley because there aren’t that many places I can think of that are really good places to eat.”

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