East Idaho Eats: Grandpa’s Bar-B-Q welcomes you with family recipes and home cooked meals

IDAHO FALLS — If you’re looking for smoked meats, mouth-watering sides, fluffy cornbread and delicious desserts, Grandpa’s Southern Bar-B-Q is the place for you.

Attached to Motel West at 1540 West Broadway Street, the family-owned restaurant has been in operation since 1995 when Lloyd and Loretta Westbrook opened it in Arco.

“Because of the fire that burned 22,000 acres on the desert back in 2000, Arco went into a downward spiral,” Lloyd tells EastIdahoNews.com. “Traffic that used to flow through from Montana, Wyoming and other places going west stopped coming through because of dust storms and road closures. Arco just went down, down, down.”

The Westbrooks moved their barbecue joint to Idaho Falls in June 2002 and business has continued to grow over the years.

The entire family is involved in the operation and always has been long before Lloyd was born.

“These recipes have been passed down from generation to generation,” son Corey Mangum says. “Grandpa is actually (Lloyd’s) grandpa … Us kids started working this business at 10, 11, 12 years old. We’ve always had our hands involved in it and whatever the captain says, goes.”

“Captain” Lloyd seasons all the meats with the family’s dry rub and then smokes it for hours with wood and charcoal. There’s no propane or gas used at Grandpa’s. You can choose your favorite meat from chicken, beef brisket, ribs, sausage, pulled pork – even fish on Friday.

“We do catfish every Friday for lunch and dinner. You can have as many fillets as you want,” Mangum says. “They’re golden brown and made from scratch. My mom dips the filets in the flour, cornmeal, seasons it, hand-fries it — everything.”

All of the food at Grandpa’s is made from scratch “just like my grandparents used to do,” Lloyd says. Loretta has added her own twist to a lot of the menu items and personally makes the pecan, sweet potato and buttermilk pies, along with the German chocolate cake and peach cobbler.

Watch our entire interview with Grandpa’s in the video player above and learn more about their restaurant, including the menu, here.

Grandpa’s Southern Bar-B-Q is open Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. and on Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Catering options are available and you can follow the restaurant on Facebook and Instagram.