East Idaho Eats: Blackfoot restaurant and pub offers cajun seafood boil and unique rooms to dine in

BLACKFOOT — A local Blackfoot restaurant and pub that opened in March offers a wide variety of food, including delicious Mac-N-Cheese, country fried steak and a special blend of cajun seafood boil.

7EIGHTY5 is located at 310 North Meridian Street. The number 785 is a phone prefix for the area.

“I really wanted to show people that we are a Blackfoot restaurant and our roots are here. We are a family restaurant. My brother is my business partner and my mom works here as a hostess during the week,” said Larry Mitchell, managing partner at 7EIGHTY5. “Those that were born and raised in Blackfoot know 785 is the prefix for the phone number.”

Mitchell said the restaurant’s name is just a bit catchier, so once people hear it, they will never forget it.

A popular item on the menu is the baked Mac-N-Cheese. The Mac-N-Cheese is made to order, and it’s not pre-baked. The dish EastIdahoNews.com got to try had pulled pork on top of the noodles with a tasty barbecue sauce.

“We can actually customize it and put whatever you would like on it. So our three cheese sauce is our base,” said Mitchell. “The other good thing is, for our gluten-sensitive friends, we actually offer it with a gluten-free option.”

A unique item on the menu is something that east Idahoans don’t typically find: a cajun seafood boil.

A cajun seafood boil is a variety of seafood like shrimp, crab and lobster along with vegetables. The ingredients are boiled in seasoning.

There’s an art to eating it at 7EIGHTY5. The seafood blend comes steaming inside of a clear plastic bag with delicious seasoning dripping onto every piece.

“I love to travel and one of my favorite things to eat is cajun seafood boil,” Mitchell said. “You grab the top (of the bag) and hold it closed and shake the bottom to get the sauce all over. It fully coats all the seafood. Then you open it up and dump it into the bowl.”

The cajun seafood boil has peeled shrimp, snow crab, red potatoes, and corn on the cob with a 7EIGHTY5 signature blend. There are different spice levels too that can be added.

“We do more of a combination seafood boil. It’s a cross between a New England style and an authentic New Orleans style,” Mitchell said.

There are different prices for the cajun seafood boil depending on what you get, but it is reasonably priced. There’s a base price of $3.85. If you want half a pound of shrimp, it’s $10, making it a total of $13.85.

Another popular dish is the country fried steak which is fresh Angus steak that is hand-pounded, battered and breaded, topped with white country gravy and a choice of a side, like crispy Brussel sprouts.

“They have a ginger soy glaze on them and then shaved parmesan. It’s great for people who have never really enjoyed Brussel sprouts because they are so flavorful, so tasty and if you are used to the Brussel sprouts that you had as a kid, these are nothing like that,” Mitchell explained.

Not only that, but Mitchell says there are plenty of drink options.

“We are just finishing up setting up our beer taps. We are going to have 40 beers on draft. We also have a growler license, so if you want to bring in your own beer growlers, you can bring those in and have those filled,” he said.

The local family-owned business has a variety of areas for customers to dine in. There’s a social pub, sports pub, a covered patio, a family restaurant space and a banquet hall for Christmas parties, birthdays, and other special events. Click here to learn more.

7EIGHTY5 is open seven days a week. Sunday through Wednesday, it’s open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday, it’s open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Click here to “like” 7EIGHTY5’s Facebook page.