This Boise Sweet Shop is So Good, Idahoans Drive Over an Hour Just to Get There

Be honest. How many stores, bars or restaurants in Idaho are so great that you’d be willing to drive over an hour just to enjoy it?

When Old Chicago was open in Downtown Boise, my husband and I were regulars. We were there two, sometimes three days a week. When they closed at the end of February 2020, we told ourselves that because we loved the food and the World Beer Tour, we’d just start going to the one at Boise Towne Square Mall. 

READ MORE: 15 More Small Town Idaho Restaurants That Are Worth the Drive

Five years later? We knew we were lying to ourselves. We did go fairly regularly in the beginning, but we live in Southeast Boise. We ended up falling in love with a restaurant closer to our apartment that’s become our regular spot. The visits to the mall OC shrunk to almost once or twice a year. Truth is, we just didn’t love it enough to battle traffic. 

I know we’re not the only ones that have changed our behaviors because of commute times and that’s with a recent Advance Funds Network survey revealing which small business in each state people were willing to drive over an hour to patronize, rather than picking a similar option closer to home.

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In some of our neighboring states like Washington it was a Seattle based record store. In Oregon and Utah, bookshops were worth the drive. In Idaho? The way to our hearts is clearly through our stomachs. 

Boise’s “The Chocolat Bar” Named Most Popular Small Business

The results showed that a popular sweet shop that recently celebrated its 20th anniversary was THAT place that Idahoans were willing to travel to. According to their website, Jason & Trish, the current owners of The Chocolat Bar purchased the Boise-based chocolate shop when its founders were ready to retire. 

And it was a great fit for the family. Jason’s a trained chocolatier who grew up in Montana and Trish has roots in the Treasure Valley. With Jason’s knowledge of what it takes to create the perfect formula for their craft confections and Trish’s marketing and management skills, they were able to expand the business. 

They opened a second Chocolat Bar location in Eagle in 2022 and moved their Downtown Boise location from Bannock Street to a new location near the Grove Plaza in 2024.