When Blue Tiger Pizza operator Dylan Hutter scans the horizon on Eagle Road, he must feel like a caged animal.
Blue Tiger is surrounded by mega-corporate restaurants — save nearby Blue Sky Bagels and Lucky Fins Seafood Grill.
“This is probably the only independent corner on Eagle, so to speak,” Hutter says.
“We’re kind of happy about that,” he adds.
Blue Tiger, which opened this week at 1435 N. Eagle Road, adds a Pacific Northwest edge to West Ada County. Hutter, who grew up in Portland, recently sold his two restaurants there. He pulled up stakes and moved to Idaho to be closer to family. Hutter brought in a team from Portland and Seattle to open Blue Tiger.
Don’t worry, though. They aren’t trying to make Boise — er, Meridian — the next Portland.
“We’re all kind of, like, tattooed guys that listen to our music loud,” Hutter admits with a laugh. “I don’t think that this restaurant necessarily represents that. ... We’re definitely keeping it approachable. We’re not really trying to have one particular kind of a person or another in here. At the end of the day, we kind of want our food to speak for itself.”
Blue Tiger’s menu is filled with Neapolitan-style pies. The dough is made in-house and proofed for three days. Some of the cheeses are purchased from Blue Tiger’s neighbor, Eagle Road Creamery.
When pizzas exit the oven, they’re blazing hot.
“We cook our pizzas between 600 and 700 degrees,” Hutter adds. “It takes less than 5 minutes in the oven.”
You can order classic pizzas such as margherita ($9), pepperoni ($10.50) and ham and pineapple ($11).
But if you want something “savage,” as Blue Tiger describes itself on Facebook? Grab a signature pie.
“Our savage kind of pizza is just our crazy concoctions,” Hutter explains.
Go hog wild on a Pig Destroyer ($14): chorizo sausage, smoked ham, applewood bacon, sliced jalapeno, Mama Lil’s peppers, mozzarella and provolone cheese.
Blue Tiger opens late in the morning, but you can have a Bacon + Eggs pizza ($12) anytime: Applewood smoked bacon, sunny-side-up eggs, roasted cherry tomato, mozzarella and provolone cheese, with white sauce.
Hutter had planned for Blue Tiger to also be a bottle shop, but that concept was nixed at the last minute. Nevertheless, the pizzeria has four beer taps, plus four more will be added soon.
“We have a pretty nice beer list on top of that,” Hutter says. “Probably another 10 or 12 selections. Imports and micros and lots of local stuff. And our wine list is almost entirely local — pretty much all Sunnyslope.”
Blue Tiger does carry-out orders. There’s no delivery service right now, but Hutter plans to incorporate UberEats, which recently moved into Boise.
Blue Tiger’s October hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. In November, the restaurant will open seven days a week.
Online: bluetigerpizza.com.
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This story was originally published October 12, 2017 10:06 AM.