East Idaho Eats: Pitmaster BarBQue serves up big ribs, brisket, breakfast burritos and more

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IDAHO FALLS — It’s been over a year since Pitmaster BarBQue served breakfast but starting Halloween morning, brisket burritos and other morning favorites are back on the menu.

A shortage of employees during the pandemic forced the restaurant to do away with breakfast and customers have been anxiously waiting for it to return.

The burritos, stuffed full of meat, eggs, cheese and hashbrowns, will fill you up first thing in the morning. For now, they’ll only be offered at PitMaster on Fremont Avenue in Idaho Falls but may eventually expand to the Hitt Road location.

Pitmaster has been a favorite for locals since Lisa Harding and her family opened the eatery nearly ten years ago. The Ammon store came in 2017 and both are regularly packed with people eating brisket, sandwiches, ribs and Idaho nachos.

“The nachos are a local favorite. We get all of our potatoes from local farmers and cut them up into fresh cut fries. Then we put cheese and meat on them with bacon, our competition sauce and green onions,” Harding explains.

All of the rubs and sauces at Pitmaster are made in-house with the restaurant’s own recipes. The butt rub is put on most of the meat and customers can drench their food with honey bourbon, original or smoky chipotle sauces.

Porter Harding, Lisa’s son, is Pitmaster’s general manager and her mom makes the cornbread from scratch every day. The bread is thick, moist and delicious. Add honey-butter and it’s extra delicious.

One of the most popular items at PitMaster is the Baxter sandwich. Stuffed between two buns is a hearty portion of pork topped with cole slaw, provolone cheese and an onion ring. Fries are an option on the side or you could try the smoked macaroni and cheese topped with bacon.

Another dish that has locals returning often is the ribs, which are bigger than those you might find at other restaurants.

“We pay extra and special order the ribs to make them bigger,” Harding says. “We cover them with a rib rub that we make here in house. We smoke them for a couple hours after we’ve dry rubbed them. Then we wrap them in foil, add a little sweet moisture, and smoke them for a few more hours before we grill them.”

Pitmaster offers catering for weddings, family reunions, business functions and other parties.

“We are family owned, everything is fresh daily and we take a lot of pride in our food,” Harding says.

You can visit Pitmaster’s website here and follow them on Instagram and Facebook.