East Idaho Eats: Pizza Stop in Preston serves delicious pies with promise of happiness

PRESTON — Thirty years ago, the Brackin family moved from Miami to Preston and opened a pizza restaurant that has since become a fixture in the small town.

Earlier this year, Collin Brackin and his wife, Samantha King, purchased Pizza Stop — the restaurant where Brackin was born.

As Brackin explained, while his parents were building their new home, his father ran the restaurant while his mother tended to the children in an apartment the family made in the back of the restaurant. It was in that apartment — during a lunch rush — when Brackin was born. His sister then took him to a nearby grocery store to weigh him on a produce scale, Brackin said with a laugh.

“Some people are weirded out by it, but to me, it’s a pretty cool story — I’ve been here my whole life,” he added.

Earlier this year, Brackin purchased the business from his parents — he said, so they could retire and enjoy their golden years.

“They were a little weird at first about it,” Brackin told EastIdahoNews.com. “They were like, ‘well, you don’t know how to do this, you don’t know how to do this,” and I’m like, ‘I’ve been here my whole life, let me do it.’ … I’ve been treating it like I was born into it.”

Brackin’s business model has remained the same — to offer great food with excellent service. And that starts with Pizza Stop’s cheesy breadsticks, which he believes are “the best in the world.”

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For our visit, Brackin provided EastIdahoNews.com with cheesy breadsticks and a BBQ chicken pizza.

The breadsticks are precisely as he described, gooey and soft on the inside with a crispy, crunchy exterior. Dipped in Pizza Stop’s housemade marinara, they are an absolute delight.

The pizza was a unique mixture of BBQ sauce-marinated chicken breast with onion and pineapple on a bed of BBQ sauce and cheese. The topping combination was tasty enough to distract from the perfect crust.

Brackin’s favorite, the BBQ chicken pizza, is one of several menu items that are the product of “bored” employees. Because workers get a free pizza with every shift, they often mix toppings for adventurous results.

That was also the genesis of my favorite pizza on the Pizza Stop menu — the hog ‘n honey, which combines pork sausage, bacon, BBQ sauce and a honey drizzle.

Along with some additions to the menu, Brackin has some ideas for evolving the business.

Community involvement, he said, is very important to him and Pizza Stop. So the company has sponsored sports teams and sporting events and will continue seeking those opportunities.

Brackin also wants Pizza Stop to bring something to the Preston community he believes it has long since lacked — a family-friendly gathering place.

“I plan to do some live music this summer,” he said. “To me, community involvement is the biggest thing, and I want to have an impact. If I can bring a family, a big group of people out here to enjoy some music — there’s nothing like that in Preston right now.”

Family, he added, is especially important, given the business’ history and his place in it.

Before he sees those plans come to fruition, Brackin said his “gourmet pizzeria” will continue serving the best quality food available.

“I’m here to make pizza,” he said. “I’m not saying I will make everybody happy, but when you eat this pizza, it will make you happy — I promise.”

Pizza Stop in Preston is located at 106 East 2nd South. They are open Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

If you would like to see more about the restaurant, including the menu, you can see at the company’s Facebook page — here. They also post videos of their food on a company YouTube page — here.

If you want to make a recommendation for the next destination to be included on East Idaho Eats, email Kalama@EastIdahoNews.com and include “EATS” in the subject line.