New pizza restaurant opens inside former Relay Station in St. Anthony
Published at | Updated at
ST. ANTHONY – You may have noticed Saint Anthony has a new dining option.
Mad Moose Pizza opened quietly Wednesday in the 3,200-square-foot space formerly occupied by the Relay Station.
The restaurant offers custom-made New York-style pizzas and salads. They also serve breadsticks and wings and will soon have beer, desserts and other options.
Owner Jeremy Armstrong says the response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive.
“So far, people have been super supportive,” Armstrong tells EastIdahoNews.com. “This last weekend, we got busier than I thought we would, and we actually ran out of product. The type of cheese we use you can’t just go to Walmart and pick it up. I didn’t want to compromise that, so we actually shut down.”
During the last week of operation, Armstrong says there have been a few hiccups as they’ve tried to work out the kinks. He’s planning a grand opening once everything gets figured out. A date has not yet been determined.
Two different sizes of pizza are available. You can get an 8-inch or 11-inch pizza with your choice of 19 different toppings. All the ingredients are natural, and the crust is made fresh daily.
The 11-inch pizza is the restaurant’s most popular item so far, along with the salads, according to Armstrong.
Although there are similar types of restaurants throughout eastern Idaho, Armstrong says the location is what sets them apart.
“There really (aren’t) a lot of authentic New York-style pizza places or even fully established concept (restaurants) from Island Park all the way to Rexburg,” says Armstrong. “We wanted something that felt a little more upscale, that had a really cool identity and a nice place to walk in to that felt more like you were in Jackson Hole or something that felt a little fancier.”
Jeremy and his wife, Anne, live in Ashton and wanted to offer something a little different for people in the upper valley.
Jeremy has worked as a software developer for the last 15 years, so owning a restaurant is outside his comfort zone. The Armstrongs lived in Boise for four years before moving to Ashton. They acquired the space formerly occupied by the old Relay Station a little more than a year ago.
The Relay Station is a well-known landmark in the community. Two women named Wanda and Lynn ran it for years and later opened a steakhouse inside before eventually retiring and going out of business.
The building had been vacant two years when the Armstrongs bought it and it was in in bad shape. More than a year after an extensive remodel began, the restaurant is now open but not complete.
“We don’t even have menu boards up. That’s how fresh this is. We’ve still got wet paint, and we’re still trying to put things together,” says Armstrong.
Armstrong was originally planning on opening in April. Despite the delays, Armstrong says he’s learned a lot from friends in the restaurant industry who have mentored him throughout this process, and it’s a welcome change of pace for him.
“I wanted something that got me more involved with the community, and I really didn’t have anything (like that in my other job),” he says. “I was excited to do something that got me out of the house more, meeting people in the area.”
Mad Moose Pizza has space for up to 150 people. If there is a large rush of people over the next several weeks, there may be some extended wait times. Armstrong is asking you to be patient if that is the case.
Mad Moose Pizza is at 593 North 2600 East in St. Anthony. It’s open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Visit the restaurant’s website or Facebook page to learn more.