It’s a sense of nostalgia when you walk into Dixie’s Diner in Idaho Falls. The red interior, the jukeboxes at the booths filled with music, and the comforting food have been around for two decades this coming October.
The joint opened in 2005 and will be celebrating its 20th anniversary on Sept. 10. The “Funtastic Fall Hot Rod Night and 20th Anniversary” will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
There’s a car show, giveaways and prizes all night, outside seating and carhop service. Carhop service is where servers deliver food and drinks to customers in their cars. There’s 20% off all day long, too.
“I’m thankful that our community has embraced us,” said Tom Hersh, owner and manager of Dixie’s Diner. “A lot of my servers have been with me since we opened. We just have that feel.”
Located at 2150 Channing Way, the old-school, retro diner takes you right back to the 1950s. It has a welcoming atmosphere, tasty food and quick service.
“I would say that we’re just a little slice of Americana. Everything about us is local. We’re one location. We’re not a chain. We’re family-oriented. We’re community-oriented,” Hersh said. “We don’t ever try to be something that we’re not. We know what we are. We’re a diner. We serve you nice, big portions at a fair price.”
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served all day long, and there’s a wide variety of food to choose from.
“We hand-bread our chicken-fried steak; it is a very popular item. We make our own sausage for chorizo, and we sell a lot of Southwest flared stuff: an omelette, a skillet, a burrito,” he said.
The burgers are popular as well. The meat is sourced from Kuna, Idaho, so it’s all relatively local. They batter their fish for fish and chips. There are homemade soups, milkshakes and more.
“My favorite food is probably our corned beef combo, which is kind of like a reuben only with coleslaw instead of sauerkraut,” he said.
Hersh said he enjoys coming to work every day. A lot of it has to do with the fact that he sees his regulars. He’s also proud of the people he works with.
For those who have never tried Dixie’s Diner, Hersh invites them in to taste it for themselves.
“They’re going to get treated like a regular, the first time they walk in the door. I mean, that’s something that I think we’re good at,” he said. “We pride ourselves on the fact that we’re a real solid choice for people to come to eat.”
Dixie’s Diner is open seven days a week, Sunday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday to Saturday until 9 p.m.
As Hersh looks back on the last 20 years and looks forward to the future with Dixie’s Diner, he’s grateful.
“Sometimes it almost just overwhelms me, the support that we’ve gotten and how fortunate we’ve been. I mean, I don’t call it lucky because you kind of make your own luck, but we’ve definitely been fortunate here in this location and the way that the community has supported us,” he said. “It’s just been a great 20 years.”
