Owners of former Shelley restaurant open Bacon and Bleu

Some of you may remember Lazy D’s, a restaurant by the Virginia Theater in Shelley that closed more than 10 years ago. Maybe that memory conjures up thoughts of fresh-cut fries, steak and cheese sandwiches, and juicy burgers. 

Well, you’re in luck.  

Devon and Ronnie Kerbs closed their restaurant years ago, but have sporadically talked about opening another one. It wasn’t until they found the building on Holmes in Idaho Falls, where Bushido used to be, that everything just seemed to fall into place.

There was lots of remodeling to do, including flooring in an old koi pond. After almost four months of renovations, they opened Bacon and Bleu in December 2020.

They brought some of the old favorites from the Lazy D’s menu and added some new items as well. 

They mostly want to be known as a family restaurant. They’ve made intentional decisions to promote togetherness.

“What we really wanted to do here was make our space comfortable for families to spend time and focus on each other. We want families to be able to sit down and have an actual family meal,†Devon says.

“If you look around, you won’t see any television sets. No distractions. We do have music in the background that we choose ahead of time, to make sure it’s all family friendly.†

“We have tried our best to keep our prices as low as we can, so families with children can come in here, and their meal won’t break the bank,†Devon went on to explain.

They even feature real child-drawn artwork on the back of the kid menus. Any kid can draw and submit their pictures. If they get chosen, they’re printed on the menu and they win a dessert.

Another thing that is unique about Bacon and Bleu is their homemade, yeast-brewed root beer called “Bishop’s Beer†served in a frosty mug.

But, it might not be what you think.

“My mother’s maiden name is Bishop,†Devon explains, “and I was very close to my Grandpa Bishop. Growing up, one of my fondest memories of him was going on rides in his old pickup truck. He always took me out to watch deer, and he always had two cans of cheap root beer in the cup holders. Pretty much everywhere he went, actually, he had a can of root beer.â€

Home-brewed root beer for his restaurant was a perfect meaningful nod to his late grandfather.

It just so happens that Devon and Ronnie painted some of the walls inside Bacon and Bleu the same orange color as that old pickup truck, which Devon hopes to restore soon. 

Bacon and Bleu also makes everything fresh, from scratch. They use Grand Peaks Prime Meats for all of their meats, even getting their hamburger ground and pressed to their specifics twice weekly so that nothing is ever frozen. They freshly prepare approximately 100 lbs of potatoes daily.

Aside from one particular appetizer, they don’t freeze anything.

“We have a smaller freezer for that appetizer and the ice cream. We have a really nice walk-in freezer that we don’t even use!†Ronnie laughed. 

We’ve been able to try several things at Bacon and Bleu. 

Their fried pickle chips are delicious. The pickles are slices instead of spears, which makes them perfectly crispy. 

The Southwest Salad hit the spot. Devon does a great job with the theme of this salad. It is definitely southwest-y. There are generous portions of crunchy chips and tender chicken. The chunked and sautéed onions and peppers were my jam. The dressing is sour cream based and has awesome flavor.

The Bacon and Bleu Stuffed Burger is huge and delicious. It has two 1/3 lb patties stuffed with plenty of bleu cheese without being the ONLY thing you can taste. It’s so fun to bite in and have cheese and bacon just fall out of the beef. The meat has delicious flavor and is tender and not overworked. The bun is soft but solid enough to hold the burger together. 

The fries are fresh-cut daily, with perfect thickness, fried just right, and come out piping hot. The fry sauce is well put together. 

The house-brewed root beer is smooth and unique in flavor. It is yeast-brewed and hints at a hop flavor. The frosted mug is a fun experience.

The skookie, or skillet cookie, is awesome. The cookie itself (it’s a sugar cookie) has a slight saltiness that balances out the sweetness from the sauces and ice cream. The cookie comes out hot and the cold ice cream on top gives the hot/cold juxtaposition that we love. 

We are so excited to have this great couple cooking for our community again. It is such a good family restaurant option in Idaho Falls.