POCATELLO — It’s likely true that all of us have at one point said, “I’m living the dream,” when asked about the recent endeavors in our lives.

But when Angeline Underwood, the owner of Pocatello’s Brick 243, says it, she means it.

“Haven’t you ever had a dream?” Underwood said rhetorically as she took a sip of red wine while sitting at the bar of her gastropub nestled in the heart of Pocatello’s downtown, patrons of her latest Italian seven-course meal palavering in the background. “Haven’t you ever felt like, man, I’m getting old, it’s time to do what I want to do.”

Owning and operating the place that brought “affordable bougie pub food” to the Gate City was just the beginning of the culinary journey for Underwood, who for the past two years has offered local residents a meal of seven high-end Italian dishes at a reasonable price.

The meal consists of mainstays from her mother’s kitchen, altered ever so slightly, and other recipes Underwood and her high school sweetheart turned husband, Greg, worked to perfect in their own kitchen before sharing them with the masses. She was never trained as a professional chef nor did she attend culinary school, but rather, she’s exploring a lifelong dream to run a restaurant.

“My grandmother is full Italian, my grandfather has some Italian in him by association and my mother was very much raised in a small railroad town, Helper, Utah, with a whole bunch of other people from different ethnic backgrounds — Greek, Hispanic and Italian — who weren’t very well off so they shared recipes,” Underwood said. “It was like this recipe melting pot. … Here at Brick we want everyone to come in and have a dinner like we would every Sunday where mom has hors d'oeuvres and then a pasta course, a salad and a seafood course. That's every Sunday for us and we want everyone to be able to experience something like that.”

Offered bi-weekly at the restaurant located at 243 W. Center St., the seven individual courses change frequently but the price, $65 per person or a little more than $9 per dish, is always the same.

“We always hear that Brick 243 is fine dining, but we’re not,” Underwood said. “We do nice food, we care about doing a great job and our customer service is out of this world but we’re not fine dining. Our goal is to offer a high-quality experience at an affordable price.”

Tenets of Brick 243, Underwood says, are cleanliness, consistency and quality. At the time of this interview, she had spent the first two days of this week deep cleaning the dining area.

The Idaho State Journal recently sat down for a seven-course Italian meal at Brick 243 and here’s what was on the menu:

— Antipasti: An assortment of charcuterie with over 11 ingredients that included toasted crostini, Marcona almonds, balsamic fig Boursin cheese, homemade stone ground mustard, soppressata, mortadella, gouda, pecorino and cornichons.

— Primi: Creamy polenta with wild mushrooms, garlic butter and fried sage. An array of morel, crimini and shiitake mushrooms that are cooked low and slow rest on a bed of polenta (texturally similar to mashed potatoes). Garnished with a drizzle of the reduction from the mushrooms and chips of fried sage.

— Frutti di mare: Shrimp Cioppino with fresh herb and olive gremolata. The acidity and freshness from the lemon and herbs in the gremolata complements the more heavy aspects of the shrimp and thick tomato sauce soup.

— Insulata: Cacio e pepe vinaigrette dressed baby greens. A light and refreshing salad placed intentionally before the main course.

— Secondi: Sous vide filet mignon with creamy pasta alla gorgonzola. Thinly sliced filet mignon that’s rare in the center with an even exterior bark rests on a bed of bucatini. The gorgonzola cream sauce is light but decadent. The filet mignon is melt-in-your-mouth tender.

— Frutta del formaggio: Sliced pears with parma ham, fresh mozzarella, lemon oil and basil. One might think fruit, cheese and gourmet cold cuts wouldn’t go well together, but this course proves exactly why that’s far from the truth.

— Dolce: Dark chocolate panna cotta with espresso bean and dried cherry bark. A slow-cooked dessert with cream, gelatin, vanilla and dark chocolate. Underwood’s first crack at making this classic Italian dessert was a home run.

Each meal comes with the availability of several wine varieties as well as craft beer options from Pocatello breweries.

Underwood said she takes great pride in working with local distributors to source the highest quality of ingredients possible and almost everything on the menu is made from scratch. Underwood has a knack for finding a way to elevate a dish using just a few simple ingredients.

“When you are able to make everything in house and not buy it already made, that helps to keep overhead costs low but it also makes the food taste better,” Underwood said. “And again, we are talking about family recipes from people that lived in a small railroad town who didn’t have access to tons of ingredients or big cuts of meat.”

She continued, “Obviously, we are doing some more modern stuff like sous vide filet mignon but there’s a lot of stuff that’s just good ol’ fashioned generational recipes like our polenta, which is something my grandma cooked for us our entire lives.”

What makes the seven-course meal, available at Brick 243 at 5:15 and 7:30 p.m. every other Wednesday by reservation only, so special is Underwood’s attention to detail, not only in the preparation of the food, but even the minute details — Frank Sinatra playing softly over the speakers, cozy sofa chairs to relax in, warm lighting, polished silverware and a observant but far from overbearing wait staff who act more like tour guides leading you on a culinary adventure.

“What I try to do as an owner is make sure people are happy and walk away remembering each experience at the Brick,” Underwood said. “We want every person who walks in the doors for the first time to become a regular guest.”

Now that she has the seven-course meal down to a science essentially, Underwood has recently launched an Italian night, which she will host every other Wednesday in between seven-course meals. 

Much like the nights (Thursday through Saturday from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m.) Brick 243 serves its traditional tapas-style, shareable food like the charcuterie boards and Mama's Sunday gravy, Italian nights will feature different Italian dishes that are more traditional and generally accessible — think Bolognese, an open-faced meatball sub and a chopped salad.

"We want to go back to our roots and provide some of our family's generational recipes that have been passed down," Underwood said. "We want to bring that Sunday dinner vibe to Pocatello."

The next Italian nights are scheduled for Feb. 7 and 21. The next Italian seven-course meal is set for Jan. 31.

“This is my life,” Underwood said. “I wake up every day thinking about food and go to bed every night dreaming about what to make next. This is my childhood and I want to share it with people.”