East Idaho Eats: Family restaurant in Idaho Falls puts its own twist on traditional favorites

IDAHO FALLS – Devon and Ronnie Kerbs have been extremely busy since opening a restaurant in Idaho Falls five months ago.

Bacon & Bleu Family Restaurant opened Dec. 17 in the space formerly occupied by Bushido’s Japanese Steak House and Sushi at 688 North Holmes Avenue.

The menu includes popular favorites such as burgers, fresh-cut fries, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, salads and several pasta dishes. Freshly made homemade root beer is on tap as well, along with several dessert items like a giant cookie cooked in a cast-iron skillet and topped off with ice cream.

The most popular item, according to Ronnie, is their signature Bacon & Bleu burger, which includes a third-pound patty served with bacon, blue cheese and all the fixings.

EastIdahoNews.com tried some of the menu items, which you can watch in the video player above.

Since opening their doors, Devon tells EastIdahoNews.com the food and the service have only gotten better.

“The initial response was overwhelming. We really couldn’t help the people we wanted to come through the door. So we’ve made some adjustments, and we’ve gotten faster and better and higher quality food. The response now is just as good,” he says. “We really have a good client base, and they’re really responding well to the food.”

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One of the adjustments is the hours of operation. Bacon & Bleu was initially open for lunch, but it’s now open for dinner exclusively, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday with a 10 p.m. closing time Friday and Saturday.

Devon says the tweaking of the hours was partly due to a shortage of staff.

The staff is now four times the size it was when they first opened and they’re planning to open for lunch in the near future.

Some of the adjustments also stem from personal challenges. The Kerbs were forced to close the restaurant for several weeks in March.

“We’re a family-run business and we have some employees that are members of our extended family, and a lot of people who work for us are teachers or students. Spring break hit us really hard for staffing,” Devon says.

“We were bare-bones on our schedule, and then there was a funeral for one of our family members,” adds Ronnie. “We planned to close for three days and then reopen. Then there was an emergency with my son out in South Carolina.”

Despite some unexpected twists and turns, Devon says they’re glad to be back open and serving customers in eastern Idaho. In addition to expanding their hours, they’re hoping to add some new features and menu items soon.

“We currently have a third of the building that’s not being used. It was used for hibachi grills when it was a Japanese steakhouse. Those are still in place, and we’re trying to decide what to do with that portion of the building,” says Devon.

One option they’re considering is turning it into a private party area for customers.

The couple is also looking to start a locally-driven YouTube channel where they put their own twist on a family recipe from someone in the community and temporarily add it to the menu for people to try it out.

“Either that, or we’ll simply have a revolving, secret menu item that’s running every week,” Devon says. “I’m not sure that we’ll deviate from our regular menu items too much. We like our base that we have now, but we’re always looking into new options, including gluten-free options that people are requesting.”