After nearly four decades in business, this Blackfoot restaurant does it the “old-fashioned way”

Cinnamon Roll | Logan Ramsey, EastIdahoNews.com

BLACKFOOT — Across the street from several chain restaurants is a long-standing local eatery that has become a community landmark.

Homestead Family Restaurant has been open at 1355 Parkway Drive and has been serving the Blackfoot community for 36 years. The secret to staying in business is consistency and their incredible staff, said owners Todd and Virginia Burke.

“(The key is) to put out really good products day after day,” Todd said.

“We have long-time employees here and they do an amazing job with the customers,” Virginia said. “Everyone here does an amazing job.”

Nearly four decades ago, Todd saw what would become his future building and thought it would be the perfect place to open a restaurant.

This was at a time when Virginia’s father was retiring from farming. Deciding to use Virginia and her parents’ experience in food service, they all started the Homestead Family Restaurant together.

“The first few years were really uncertain, trying to figure out what to do, but it ended up working out really well,” Todd said.

One of the most popular breakfast items at Homestead is French toast.

This menu item can be served in a variety of ways to suit different customer tastes. Homestead decided to serve EastIdahoNews.com three slices of French toast, topped with scattered strawberries and a dollop of cream. It was easy to see why this is one of the restaurant’s most-ordered items.

One of the restaurant’s main dishes is the Country Chicken Fried Steak.

Instead of pulling a breaded steak out of the freezer, they buy the steak from a local source and the restaurant staff does the breading themselves. They also mix the sauce in-house. Virginia said this meal is made the “old-fashioned way.”

This work is worth it when the customer takes a juicy bite and experiences the flavor of homemade food.

Homestead Family Restaurant serves a variety of homemade desserts, including a large selection of pies and cinnamon rolls, which the owners decided EastIdahoNews.com would try.

“They are a long process (to make),” Virginia said.

The entire process takes about four hours, with one team member making the dough and balls in the morning. During the baking process, someone will also make the frosting. When the entire process is complete, they only have about 25 cinnamon rolls in a batch.

This was another item where the work and dedication invested in it was evident.

Virginia said all the work is worth it when customers take a satisfying first bite.

For Virginia and Todd, using locally sourced ingredients is important to the integrity of Homestead Family Restaurant.

“We like to source as many local (ingredients) as we can,” Virginia said. “We try to offer as much fresh, unprocessed food as possible.”

For the owners, sourcing local ingredients is a way to show how proud they are of their community.

“This community has been amazing. They’ve been so supportive and we’re grateful to everyone here. Without them, we couldn’t do this,” Todd said.

Homestead Family Restaurant is open every day except Sunday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. For those who haven’t visited the restaurant, Virginia said they offer the best of both worlds: quick wait times and home-cooked food.

“I hope everyone can come out and give us a chance,” Virginia said.