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ST. ANTHONY – A new restaurant catering to St. Anthony’s aviation and agriculture community opened earlier this month, and the owners say the support has been “amazing.”
Crop Dusters Grill had its soft opening on July 7. It’s inside a hangar just off the runway at the St. Anthony Airport at 31 Industrial Park Road. The eatery is next door to Uniform 12 Brewery, which hasn’t opened yet.
Crop Dusters Grill serves homemade hamburgers, ham-battered chicken, shrimp, and finger steaks, along with cheese curds and other appetizers, salad, fresh-cut fries, fried pickles and other “locally sourced comfort food,” according to its Facebook page.
Matt Thueson and his wife, Maria, are the owners. Matt tells EastIdahoNewsw.com that opening day was packed, and they’ve had people in and outside the area stop by in the last few weeks.
“This morning, we had people from Georgia come in,” Matt says. “You hear planes taking off all the time, especially crop dusters up here in St. Anthony.”
Matt says the brewery owners wanted a restaurant to share a dining space with and asked Matt if he wanted to get involved.
“It was time for a change,” says Matt. “We sat down and made it happen.”
The airplane theme was Matt’s idea.
Matt has a career in the food industry dating back nearly three decades.
He got his start as a busboy at Texas Roadhouse and waited tables at Winger’s before attending Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland, Oregon.
He managed Papa John’s and Panda Express restaurants for a time and eventually earned a business management degree from Brigham Young University-Idaho.
Matt says he’s helped many people open restaurants over the years, including Port of Subs in Rexburg. It opened in 2019, according to the Rexburg Standard Journal. Corey Sorenson is the owner.
Matt most recently worked as the director of nutrition at Homestead Senior Living. He worked there for nine years and recently stepped down to work full time at Crop Dusters Grill.
After a 28-year career, Matt says what brings him the most satisfaction is making a meal for somebody and watching the reaction.
“It’s nice making people happy,” he says.
Matt says he’s hoping to serve customers at Crop Dusters Grill for years to come. He wants it to be a place where customers feel like they’re “coming home” to good, quality food.
“So many people grow up around here and move away, but when they come home they can say, ‘We’re going over to Crop Dusters,'” Matt says. “Hopefully, down the road, we can become a local (favorite).”
He’d also like to use space behind the restaurant at some point to cater for weddings and other events.
Crops Dusters Grill is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
EastIdahoNews.com is planning an East Idaho Eats segment at Crop Dusters Grill soon.
WATCH OUR INTERVIEW WITH MATT IN THE VIDEO ABOVE.
The post New airport grill in St. Anthony serves up comfort food with a side of crop duster traffic appeared first on East Idaho News.
