What Happened to the Popular Paddles Up Poke in Caldwell?

Caldwell’s gorgeous Indian Creek Plaza is a classic example of “If you build it, they will come.” 

If you’re not familiar with the backstory behind the development of Indian Creek Plaza, we dove deep into it a few months back. This is an abridged version. Over 70 years ago, Indian Creek was stinky and rats, so local leaders decided the best way to solve the problem was to entomb the creek under cement.

It stayed that way until a car wash built on top of the creek collapsed into the water. The collapse sparked the idea of daylighting the creek and eventually constructing the fantastic Indian Creek Plaza that’s there today. 

As the plaza’s concerts, ice ribbon and festivals took off, more and more businesses were interested in opening in a revived and exciting Downtown Caldwell. One of those businesses was Paddles Up Poke, a local chain restaurant founded by Boise State alums Dan and Laura Landucci. They have locations in Downtown Boise, Meridian, Nampa and on the BSU campus. Their Indian Creek Plaza location opened last November. 

According to a post on the brand’s Facebook page, that Caldwell location has closed permanently. Work-life balance seems to be a major factor in the decision to close the location as the post explains: 

“We had an amazing year there, but the commute and the time it needed from me was weighing on my family and I. We started Paddles Up so I can create a schedule where I could attend dinners every night with my family and go to every sporting event or dance class for my kids. I wasn’t able to do that anymore, and had to make some changes”

The post goes on to invite 2C poke fans to visit the Paddles Up location in Downtown Nampa and reveals what’s next for the spot. Gandolfo's New York Deli will move into the space. It will be the fourth Idaho location. Gandolfo’s has two locations in Meridian and a location in Idaho Falls. 

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While we’re sad to see Paddles Up leave Indian Creek Plaza, we’re excited to see it won’t be an empty storefront. We also commend the Landucci’s for taking a step toward work-life balance that many of us would like to take, but don’t have the guts to! It’s actually quite inspirational!