Twenty months ago, Star found out it was getting a destination steakhouse. Fifteen thousand square feet, two stories, a butcher shop, a speakeasy, cigars, and a Tomahawk ribeye priced at $225. The city of Star shared the approval on its Facebook page. Anderson Prime Steakhouse, from the family behind Anderson Reserve in Sweet, was going up at 10206 W. State St., directly across from Ridley's Market, a few minutes from every home in River Park Estates.
A much smaller announcement went out around the same time. A husband-and-wife team who already ran Sol Invictus Vineyard in Star were remodeling a 1921 farmhouse on Highway 44 into a wine bar. No press conference. No rendering shared by the city.
The farmhouse is open and pouring right now. The steakhouse was still waiting on a building permit at the last public check-in.
The Farmhouse Got There First
The Cellars at River's Edge sits at 6926 Highway 44, inside a farmhouse that owners Denise and Scott Smith kept mostly intact during the remodel, right down to the original staircase railing and the wood beams in what used to be the living room. Denise and Scott partnered with Melody and Jeremie Wise to build out the site, and when they first talked to BoiseDev in February, the plan was staged in three parts: the wine bar first, a reservation-only speakeasy called the Wood Shed to follow roughly a year later, and an event center called the River's Edge, sized for about 150 people, sometime in the next five to eight years.
The wine itself is Sol Invictus juice sourced from vineyards in Walla Walla and Kennewick, bottled specifically under the Cellars at River's Edge label, with Sol Invictus wines filling in the menu until the new label catches up. Planned hours were Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday from 2 to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 2 to 10 p.m., with live music on Sundays from 4 to 6.
That Sunday music series is already running. A recent listing for a live show there, backed by a working phone number and a reservation-encouraged note, confirms the wine bar cleared the biggest hurdle these projects usually stall on: it moved from announcement to open doors within the same year. The Wood Shed speakeasy, with its secret entrance and password system, is still ahead of it. So is the event center. But the part of the plan that was supposed to happen first, happened.
Where the Steakhouse Stands
Anderson Prime Steakhouse has had a harder run. When the project was announced in January 2025, owner Paul Anderson said he hoped to open by June 2026. His family has run Anderson Reserve inside a barn in Sweet since 1947, and the idea was to bring that same fine-dining draw closer to the Treasure Valley, with a butcher shop and cigar lounge attached.
June 2026 came and went. In its most recent check-in, BoiseDev reported the project delayed, and a review of city records at that point found no building permits filed for the property. The restaurant's team had posted in May that they'd passed design review with the city of Star.
"After nearly two years of planning, we're excited to finally begin this next chapter... We're coming!"
That post came a month before the original opening target. The lot spent the Fourth of July as a parking and viewing spot for the Star parade, which the restaurant opened to veterans and people with disabilities.
None of this means the project is dead. Design review is a real step, and a two-story, 15,000-square-foot commercial build with a butcher shop and cigar lounge is not a fast permit anyway. But if you're the kind of resident who's been mentally penciling in an anniversary dinner at the new place, the honest answer as of the last public reporting is that there's still no permit, no framing, and no new date on the calendar.
What Passing Design Review Actually Means
It's worth being precise about what happened in May, because "passed design review" and "under construction" get treated as the same milestone in a lot of casual local chatter, and they aren't.
Design review with the city confirms the building's look, site layout, and use fit what Star's code allows for that lot. It doesn't require a shovel in the ground. A building permit is the separate approval that lets a contractor actually start framing, and that's the piece BoiseDev couldn't find on file as of its July review. A project can clear design review and then sit for months while financing, contractor scheduling, or plan revisions get sorted out before anyone applies for the permit that starts real construction.
For a resident trying to figure out whether "Star's getting a steakhouse" is a fall story or a next-year story, that distinction is the whole answer. Right now, it's neither. It's a project that's cleared one gate and hasn't reached the next one.
The Corridor Right Now
If you're not waiting on either of these projects and just want to know what a Saturday near River Park Estates looks like this week, the corridor still has its regulars. Star Country Cafe is still the spot for the chili burger crowd, the same casual counter Star has leaned on long before anyone floated a $225 steak nearby. Ridley's Market anchors the block across from the empty steakhouse lot, same as it has for years.
Firebird Raceway, on the north edge of town, runs its Fall Automotive Swap Meet & Races today, September 26, starting at 9 a.m., the kind of low-key, all-day car event that closes out the season for anyone who spent the summer at the concert lawn downtown. Art by the River wrapped up on the 19th, another marker that Star's outdoor calendar is winding down for the year even as its dining scene keeps shifting underneath it.
None of that requires driving far from Blessinger Road. That's been true all year. The farmhouse wine bar has reached opening day, and the steakhouse is still working through the steps between design review and construction.
If you live in River Park Estates and want to know what's actually opening near you before it turns into a headline, that's the kind of on-the-ground detail The Shackelford Group tracks for Star, Eagle, and the rest of the Treasure Valley, one open door at a time.
