‘Amazing’ and locally sourced, popular food trailer to open downtown Boise restaurant

A restaurant with a passion for local sourcing is coming to downtown Boise soon.

Terroir Bistro, a brick-and-mortar expansion of Terroir food trailer, plans to take over the former Little Pearl Oyster Bar space at 160 N. 8th St. Little Pearl recently consolidated operations next door.

The hope is to open Terroir Bistro in early June, co-owner and chef Nathan Whitley said. Other than repainting the dining room and adding furniture, the new restaurant will hit the ground running.

Established in 2021 by culinary duo Whitley and Remi Courcenet, Terroir has earned a following with a semi-constant spot at Telaya Wine Co., 240 E. 32nd St., in Garden City. “Service to your table,” a recent five-star Google review says. “They actually bring the food to you at the winery whilst you are enjoying wine. The food. Literally amazing. Really good.”

The praise won’t surprise Boiseans familiar with Whitley, a longtime local chef. While working at The Modern Hotel and Bar, he was nominated as a James Beard Award semifinalist in 2015 for Best Chef: Northwest. Courcenet, who was The Modern’s food and beverage director at the time, had hired Whitley three years earlier.

Terroir concocts a small but interesting menu at its mobile operation, with choices ranging from a dill burger (which people adore) to smoked sturgeon, vegetarian mushroom birria tacos and Idaho trout.

“We are planning to keep the trailer open, and in its usual spot at Telaya Wednesday through Sunday,” Whitley said in an email, “so no changes there.”

The trailer and bistro menus will overlap — but just a bit. That dill burger will at least remain a staple at the trailer, Whitley said. “I love that people enjoy it so much.”

But having a restaurant with a permanent kitchen will allow the two men the opportunity to create “more involved dishes,” he said, “and a larger, more diverse menu than what we can execute on the trailer.”