East Idaho Eats: Fire & Smoke BBQ serves up Louisiana style flavor

IDAHO FALLS — Whether you are craving baby-back ribs, BBQ pulled-pork nachos, or mac and cheese — Fire & Smoke BBQ has something for everyone in the family.

Sitting in a homemade food trailer along 1st Street in Idaho Falls, the business launched in 2020, and Fire & Smoke BBQ founder and owner Leaf Call says he wants his customers to leave saying “Wow!”

“There was no pressure at all because of what was going on with COVID,” Call said. “This was just something that’s a passion and I just pulled the trigger.”

Call and his family built the trailer from the ground up. Not only welding the frame but also the wood-fueled smoker that fills the entire parking lot with a unique southern BBQ aroma — a smell that originated from a trip 30-years ago.

“I went to a smoke fest in Alabama and I got addicted,” Call said. “The gentleman I spent a lot of time with, he was from Louisiana. He kind of got me leaning towards the Louisana-style smoke.”

The experience got Call cooking with a softer Louisiana smoke without an overpowering rub. The style focuses more on the quality of the meat and food. Call also cooks up a Texas-style beef with just salt-and-pepper with “good old fashion oak.” Fire & Smoke also serves up Call’s own fall-off-the-bone tender BBQ chicken that even chicken haters will enjoy.

“That chicken will leave you with a smile,” Call said.

The menu also includes an enormous baked potato sourced from a farm near St. Anthony, brisket-based beans, and chili dogs. Kids will also find items on the menu, from staples like mac and cheese to hamburgers.

“We try to keep the menu to when somebody comes in and they don’t really feel like BBQ today, they don’t have to have BBQ,” Call said.

Call doesn’t run the business alone. From construction to preparing and serving their food focused on flavor, the kids and his wife Kandie all pitch in. The couple also plans to open an adjoining trailer in the coming weeks focused on Kandie’s signature comfort foods.

“We all got something in the mix here and it’s just been great,” Call said.

Fire & Smoke see their customers as an extension of their family. From the newcomer to the frequent visitor, they want to know who everyone is. They said the flavor of the food brings people together and it’s what they are all about.

“(It’s) just a good wholesome family product,” Call said. “Just good old fashion serve you off the cuff and make everybody happy.”

As a former volunteer firefighter, Call looks out for first-responders and military personnel.

“You better believe there is a discount,” Call said. “If I charge them, there is a discount.”

The trailer, located near Planet Doom, is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturdays during the 1st Street Swap meet. Call said Fire & Smoke cooks up its food rain or shine. During the summer the window comes down, the picnic tables come out and the parking lot is “just one big get-together.”

“My philosophy is when you walk away, I want somebody to go ‘wow that was good,'” Call said. “I don’t want them to walk away going ‘well that was alright,’ I would rather have the wow factor.”