This new Boise pub opened where Jumpin’ Janet’s closed. Just don’t call it a dive bar
If you stroll into the former Jumpin’ Janet’s thirsting for a cold one, you’ll notice plenty of familiar sights.
A row of pinball machines. A couple of pool tables. TVs. A curated lineup of beer tap handles.
What you won’t find? Not since Janet’s lost its ability to serve liquor and finally closed last summer?
A dive bar.
As owner of the newly opened Here’s How Public House, 572 S. Vista Ave., Matt Eggers prefers avoiding that term. Adding fresh paint and lighting — and cleaning the place — helped brighten the atmosphere, he said.
But, mostly, it’s about philosophy.
“Dive bars can be good,” Eggers said. “But dive bars can also just be a place where people get too drunk.”
That’s not his vision. A certified cicerone, Eggers has positioned Here’s How Public House as a beer aficionado’s destination. Nineteen of the 21 tap handles pour beer into craft-oriented glassware. Hard cider flows from the other two. Here’s How also sells wine and canned cocktails. But, like Janet’s at the end of its run, there is no liquor license.
The kitchen isn’t being utilized for now, but Eggers hopes to add food by the end of the year. The menu will focus on pizza, he said, along with sandwiches. “No burgers.”
After soft opening last weekend, Here’s How will celebrate its official debut Friday. Then from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, 17 vendors will sell their wares outside during a Vista Plaza Night Market. That event is organized by his wife, Jenny Miller, owner of The Lost & Found gift shop, 514 S. Vista Ave., in the same strip mall.
To start, Here’s How’s hours are 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 3 p.m to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Eggers said. If you visit, consider raising a glass in salute.
After all, the phrase “Here’s how” is a toast.
Eggers discovered it years ago during a trip to Germany with friends, he said. A menu that highlighted various drinking toasts listed “Here’s how” for the United States.
“We had never heard of it before,” he said. “So we just started saying it and started noticing references to it. I noticed they said it on ‘Mad Men’ sometimes. It’s just an old toast that has completely fallen out of use.”
Not anymore — at least not in Boise’s newest beer destination.
