Nate Lindskoog, owner of The Tower Grill, has opened his new restaurant at the Nampa Municipal Airport. The Tower Grill is open for breakfast and lunch. The Tower Grill is located at the Nampa Municipal Airport, 105 Municipal Dr. Hours are: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday; closed Tuesday. For more information visit thetowergrill.com.
NAMPA — The view at the Tower Grill is hard to beat.
At least that’s the opinion of Nate Lindskoog, owner of the new restaurant at Nampa Municipal Airport that combines airplanes and a from-scratch cooking menu.
“It’s the stuff that I love making for my kids, it’s the stuff that I think people would want to sit down and watch airplanes and have brunch on the patio,” Lindskoog said.
Located on the top floor at 105 Municipal Drive, the restaurant features a patio and a line of windows facing the runway. Inside, the walls have a fresh coat of paint and festooned with rusty airplane parts recovered from a local junkyard.
From the Ford Tri-Motor Omelet to the A-10 Burrito, the entire restaurant is an homage to flight. Lindskoog grew up around airplanes, in part because his dad has a pilot’s license. So, combining his affinity for flight with with his 15 years of experience in the restaurant industry seemed right.
lined with corrugated metal salvaged from an old hangar. One of the interior walls is lined with a series of framed airplane photos taken by Lindskoog’s father.
Because the small municipal airport doesn’t have its own air traffic control tower, Lindskoog wanted to make the grill feel like one. Adding to that ambiance is the fact the restaurant has a speaker in the ceiling. If the noise inside isn’t too loud, guests may be able to hear pilots on their radios coordinating take-offs and landings.
The menu is simple, includes daily specials and revolves around breakfast and burgers with a fresh fruit and vegetable twist hearkening to Lindskoog’s northern California upbringing. For now, The Tower Grill is open for breakfast and lunch six days a week. Doors are closed Tuesdays.
Many of the restaurant’s patrons are pilots, visitors and those who just love to come watch the airplanes, Lindskoog said.
Diner Bob Funk, who relaxed at the restaurant last week with his daughter and granddaughter, said he approves of the changes. Funk, a pilot who splits time living in Eagle and Arizona, said he’s eaten at the restaurant frequently over the years.
“This is greatly improved,” Funk said, as a waitress set down an order of fish and chips.
For cities like Nampa, having a general aviation airport is important to local business, he said. They are the commercial gateway for local business leaders, and having a functional airport with a restaurant is a “tremendous asset” to the airport’s ability to attract other business.
“Besides being fun for the community, for the pilot community it’s an asset,” Funk said. “It’s part of their business routine or tool to have lunch with partners or clients.”
~Lis Stewart
