Moxie Living Up To Its Moniker Elegant Liberty Lake Restaurant Fulfills Promise Of Being One Of The Finest In The Region

What a difference a year makes.

When chef Ian Wingate opened Moxie last summer, the place showed a lot of promise, but there was room for improvement. If I were handing out report cards, I would have said the talented Wingate wasn’t living up to his potential.

Now, I’m happy to eat those words.

After a couple of incredible lunches, I’m convinced Moxie is one of the brightest stars in our little culinary universe. The place not only has got a lot of style, but substance, too.

For such an upscale venture, Moxie is in a low-key location. It’s sandwiched between Fitzbillies and Papa Murphy’s in Liberty Lake’s strip mall.

Yet step inside and the dining room is cozy-chic, with blond wood tables, striking artwork on the walls and a couple of Dale Chihuly-esque glass fixtures suspended from the ceiling.

Diners might appreciate little details before even setting eyes on the menu: fresh flowers on the table, spiffy water tumblers, cloth napkins at lunch, flatware with some heft.

While studying the bill of fare, dip some of the chewy house-baked French bread into the stylish little square dish of my favorite butter substitute: balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

The lunch menu is a scaled-down version of dinner, with a sandwich and a chicken taco plate weighing in as the lightest and least expensive items.

There are a couple of sensational starters, which you might want to consider splitting.

The enormous salads are made with greens grown on Penrith Farms near Newport, Wash. Cheers to Wingate for sourcing this local grower (also featured at Paprika) and for giving them well-deserved credit on his menu. (He also uses Penrith tomatoes, herbs and eggplants.)

The lovely lettuce has a tender texture and fresh taste that you don’t find in that prepackaged salad mix served most places.

I loved the seasonal greens with sliced apples, onions pickled in balsamic vinegar and a pumpkin vinaigrette (how about adding some toasted pumpkin seeds?), as well as the pear and gorgonzola salad tossed with spicy walnuts and a tangy apple cider vinegar dressing.

A former gorgonzola skeptic, I fell in love with that bleu after trying this classic pairing — a perfect balance of salty and sweet, creamy and crunchy.

Another first course just might be the best French onion soup this side of Quebec City. The sherry-infused soup should be held up as an example of how great that dish can be when properly prepared. Sweet onions were swimming in a rich, beefy stock, topped with melted Gruyere. It wasn’t too salty, too cheesy, too anything. Just right.

Listen up for the daily special, usually featuring some sort of exotic seafood.

I was wowed by a blackened marlin steak, served with a slightly sweet corn salsa.

The marlin — which can be tough if left on the grill too long — was cooked moist and was flaky, not chewy.

But what made this dish memorable was the presentation. This edible sculpture was built on a foundation of velvety mashed potatoes, topped with a few tender-crispy green beans and the fish. Then came the salsa and finally, a delicate tangle of fried bean thread noodles.

That little tower was surrounded by squiggles of cilantro pesto and Wingate’s signature Moxie sauce. It was pretty, not precious.

Wingate gives his chipotle-glazed meatloaf the same snazzy turn, by artfully arranging slabs of this savory classic against whipped spuds. The accompanying, intensely flavored demiglace gave new meaning to mashed potatoes and gravy.

Those garlicky mashed taters seem to be Wingate’s favorite canvas against which he creates his gorgeous plates. Not that that’s a bad thing. But it might be nice have a little variety, say, to toss in some stir-fried soba noodles when doing a Asian-influenced dish such as the ahi.

Seared tuna has become a mainstay on most upscale menus, but Wingate gives it a twist by coating it in black sesame seeds, cooking it pink and serving it with a gingery elixir called hibachi sauce.

The roasted red pepper sauce painted around the rim of the plate also worked on all levels, as a vibrant accent and as a fine match for the tuna steak.

Another real looker — the grilled pork tenderloin — came topped with a fresh pear relish. The puddle of sweet onion sauce on the plate was a fine complement to the meat.

When the dish was ordered, our gracious and enthusiastic server told us that chef cooks the pork medium rare. Was that OK?

Next time, I’d probably get it medium. It’s not that I have health concerns about pink pork (trichinosis from undercooked pork is fairly rare these days). I’m just not that crazy about the rubbery texture of the rarest part of the meat.

But the slices off the end were great, tender and flavorful. And, again, the dish was beautifully plated.

Other choices that sound tempting on the dinner menu include lamb shank braised in port, the Asian baby back ribs basted with tangerine-chili sauce and the porterhouse with a cream sherry sauce.

Moxie’s wine list — mostly Northwest and California, with some European selections — nicely complements the innovative fare. Among the food-friendly wines that are good values are a Louis Latour chardonnay ($18), a cabernet-shiraz from Penfolds in Australia ($18) and Ste. Michelle sauvignon blanc ($19).

The bottled beer choices are pretty mainstream — Bass Ale, Grant’s Scottish Ale, Widmer Hefeweizen, Rolling Rock.

If you like gooey sweet treats, save room for the tortes, either the chocolate ganache or a caramel banana. This torte looked more like a cream pie to me, but no matter what you call it, it was an incredible challenge not to lick the plate clean.

Wingate makes those tortes, too, along with baking bread from scratch, creating innovative salad dressings and simmering stocks that are the foundation for his terrific sauces.

If there’s any doubt just how hard this chef works, peek into the kitchen and you might catch a glimpse of Wingate washing dishes.

And you thought being a chef was such a glamorous gig.

CHECKING BACK Moxie ***1/2

*Signature dishes For starters, try the French onion soup, infused with sherry and seasoned just right. Or, say aloha to poke, a Hawaiian-style take on ceviche in which raw ahi tuna is “cooked” in rice wine, wasabi and soy. Moxie’s salads are exceptional because chef Ian Wingate has tapped into a local source. The greens from Penrith Farms are delicate and truly fresh-tasting. At lunch and dinner, the chipotle-glazed meatloaf is hot stuff. But pay special attention to the daily seafood special. Wingate’s got a way with fish.

*Ordering tips Lunch is a fine time to explore the menu, with evening-type entrees being offered for lots less money. At noon, indulge in the grilled pork loin with pear relish for $9. (At dinner, it’s $16.) Tempting fare served only at night includes the porterhouse with a cream sherry sauce, the lamb shank braised in port and simple, but sweet, grilled lobster. Salads are pricey (between $7 and $9 at dinner), but they’re big enough to split between two. Save room for the decadent desserts.

* The tab Count on spending $10 at lunch, during which entrees range from $5.50 for chicken tacos to $10.95 for the pan-seared ahi. The French onion soup is a steal at $3.50 during the midday meal. At dinner, starters range from $5 for a pan-seared, black-sesame-crusted tofu to $8 for calamari. Main plates are between $14 and $20. Moxie accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover cards, as well as personal checks. The dining room is nonsmoking and the restrooms are handicapped accessible.

* Serving Lunch Tuesday through Friday; dinner Monday through Saturday. Reservations are suggested.