The Griddle
Photos by Leslie Rodriguez
Tell us a little bit about the history of The Griddle.
The Griddle opened for business in August of 1948 and operated year-round only serving breakfast. At the end of October 1950, the owners decided to change to a seasonal operation and beginning in April of 1951, The Griddle operated as a breakfast only establishment, seasonally between April and October.
Beginning with the 1960 season, Mike and Betty Aboud leased the operation until purchasing the business at the end of 1961. In short order, the Aboud’s turned The Griddle into a year-round operation again, but continued to serve only breakfast. Perfecting a homemade breakfast, the Aboud’s built a name and reputation that has become synonymous with “Good Cookin”.
David Aboud, Mike and Betty’s youngest son was 2 when the family bought The Griddle and at the ripe old age of 6, he began working in the dish pit, he has never left the business. In 1979, David, took on the dinner operations and The Griddle operated year-round serving breakfast and dinner, until the mid-80’s when David decided to try his hand at lunch as well with his mom and dad running breakfast and him running lunch and dinner. Bringing lunch to the table showed his parents just what he was made of and by the late 80’s he was operating all three meals and eventually purchased the business from them.
David continued to build on his parent’s reputation offering diner style fare with a gourmet twist, using scratch and local ingredients. In 2005, David and his wife, Ashley, purchased all of the family real estate holdings and shifted their attention to sharing The Griddle hospitality with other communities and friends through expansion, choosing to close dinner operations in Winnemucca and look towards the future of great breakfast and lunch offered with great service. This was accomplished by opening new locations in Meridian in 2007, Eagle in 2009, Boise in 2012, and Nampa in 2017.
David and Ashley, along with David’s son, Abe, continue the Aboud family legacy started in 1960 with the goal of “Making our Guests feel like Family by sharing traditions and providing superb food and service” while bringing new and exciting ideas, foods, quality ingredients and locations to the guests and the community at large.
What should people come in to try?
People should come in and try our Dad's Hotcakes, the quiche Lorraine or the Golden Gate sandwich.
What should people know about you and/or The Griddle?
Quality is really important to us
We love our guests and our team members
My MS diagnosis started our company charity program #GriddleGives
We are not done expanding
