East Idaho Eats: Homestead Pizza and Bowling offering pizza, pins and lanes of fun
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IDAHO FALLS – A new pizza parlor, bowling alley and arcade venue has arrived in town, just in time to warm up from the cold weather with a game of bowling and a warm slice of pizza.
Homestead Pizza and Bowling owners have been hard at work for the last 18 months, transforming what used to be known as Skyline Lanes into a new western-themed bowling alley and pizza parlor. But bowling and pizza aren’t all they offer.
Inside, you’ll find a pizza parlor, a brand new arcade, a dining room complete with a cozy fireplace and a salad bar — a big change for those on the west side of Idaho Falls.
“We tore out all the carpet, tore down every wall in this place, rebuilt the bathrooms, and put in a pizza kitchen,” says one of Homestead’s owners, Billy Taylor. “We’re actually sitting in what used to be a tanning salon. They shut down in the eighties, and they had shag carpet and all (when we got here).”
Taylor and the other owners also own multiple successful pizza restaurants in Oregon, known as Papa’s Pizza, which is, according to Taylor, what made them want to open up a new kind of bowling and pizza venue in Idaho Falls.
“Papa’s pizza is our founding company, and we renamed it when we came over here,” says Taylor.
Some of their most popular menu items include the combination pizza, topped with salami, pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, onions and beef.
“This is definitely one of our best-selling pizzas,” says Taylor. “It’s like a supreme, and as you can tell, it’s pretty good.”
Pizza isn’t the only thing they’re serving up, as Homestead also makes homemade sandwiches, one of which is based on the pizzas themselves.
The original pizza sandwich includes salami, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, tomato, lettuce and onion, with their pizza blend cheese melted on top and toasted.
“It’s one of our most popular sandwiches because people love pizza. I mean, who doesn’t?” says Taylor. “So we just put it on a sandwich.”
Moving a business from Oregon to Idaho was quite challenging, so Taylor says they dreamed up the next pizza for the locals.
The Idahoan consists of a red sauce with a pizza cheese blend, french fries, bacon and topped with melty cheddar cheese.
“It’s been a big hit so far,” says Taylor. “What’s more Idahoan than potatoes on pizza?”
The last item EastIdahoNews.com tried was a necessary staple to any pizza party, the barbecue wings.
“You can’t do pizza without wings. We source a really good product, and we make our own barbecue sauce,” says Taylor. “It’s really popular, it’s a little spicy but not too much. We also have hot wings, these won’t spice anybody out of the world, but it’s a nice kick.”
Homestead Pizza and Bowling also offers a salad bar and a lunch buffet Monday – Friday, including all-you-can-eat pizza, salad, breadsticks, and a drink for $7.95.
Make sure to put some time aside for a game of bowling, a play in the arcade, and some delicious pizza at Homestead Pizza and Bowling, located at 1770 West Broadway Street in Idaho Falls.
The restaurant is open Sunday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight for cosmic bowling.
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