Basques in Boise

In downtown Boise, next to the Basque Museum and Cultural Center on Grove Street, the historic Cyrus Jacobs-Uberuaga House remains the oldest surviving brick dwelling in Boise, a true tribute to Basque boarding house life in America. From 1910, the place was used as a boarding house providing a "home away from home" for Basque shepherds and serving as a social center to preserve Basque culture and language.

On the other side of the street and next to the Basque Market, the Leku Ona Restaurant and Hotel stands as the latest inheritor of a long tradition of Basque boarding houses in Boise.

Built from the dream of Jose Artiach, a Basque immigrant who came to Boise 41 years ago, Leku Ona, the Basque for "good place", opened in December 2005. Since then, it has developed a reputation for good food, fair prices and a friendly atmosphere and been successfully integrated into Boise''s Basque block as one more of Idaho''s ties to the Basque Country.

A mural inside the bar featuring Jose Artiach watching above his sheep as they graze serves as a reminder of Jose''s first job when he arrived in Boise. "That was in 1968, 41 years ago tomorrow, San Isidro; I''ll never forget it," Jose tells eitb.com in an exclusive interview sitting at the bar of his restaurant, together with his two sons Andoni and Aitor.

Jose, like most Basque immigrants, worked herding sheep. He had an uncle in Boise so, unlike many others, he knew it was going to be tough. "I never raised sheep or anything like that in the Basque Country but I knew I was going to do it here. It was not as tough as I thought it would be because I had worked hard in the Basque Country. I started working when I was 14 years old. I had two jobs, not just one", he says.

Once he got his green card, Mr Artiach also worked in construction until deciding to become a truck driver. In 1975 he bought his first truck and now owns his own truck driving company. "That is my favorite business," he confesses.

Jose only worked with sheep for 4 years and although he did not like it very much, he says he learned a lot while he was with them. "You wash your own clothes, you cook your own food, you cut your own hair. It''s good because you get used to doing your own stuff, being responsible, independent. But other than that, there''s no future in it".

Complicated business

Nowadays the Artiach family is learning every day, since the restaurant and hotel business is completely new for them. "I wanted to do something for Basque culture. I have been to a lot of restaurants but I have never owned one. I think that no matter what you have done, anything can be learned. Common sense is the basis of everything you do," Jose recounts, just before adding that this business is "one of the most complicated businesses you can go into".

Lamb shank, lamb stew, halibut, stuffed squid with ink sauce and honeycomb tripe squares are the most popular dishes, although some of them, such as honeycomb tripe squares or stuffed squids, never fail to catch the eye of the outsider at first. "They are a little scared to try it because it looks funny but when they do they love it," Aitor says.

"American people also love beans, red beans, white beans," Jose adds. "We have a lot of compliments after they eat their dinner. I honestly think Basque food is the best food in the world, I have no doubt."

The building that houses the Leku Ona, which were office spaces when Jose Mari bought it, was previously a Basque boarding house in 1935 and a social club for Basque and non-Basque members sometime later owned by the Belaustegui family.

By turning the place into a Basque restaurant and hotel, Jose Mari recovered a part of the popular tradition of Basque boarding houses and made many people happy. "There was a man, Luis Goitiandia, who used to live in this building and the first time he came here he almost started to cry because he was so happy that his boarding house was now a Basque bar," Andoni says.

The essence of the Basque Country is kept faithfully in Leku Ona, where there is a special place for Athletic Club Bilbao. Andoni even did trials for the Basque soccer team during two summers in the Basque Country and played some exhibition matches, although in the end signed with the University of Santa Clara, California, where he did his university studies.

More than a hundred years after the first Basques arrived in Idaho to work as shepherds, Boise is still, thanks to the Artiach family and many others, a "home away from home".

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