Dining Out: Moxy

On Sunday evening I had dinner at Moxy, a new tapas restaurant in Portsmouth, NH, and I have not stopped smiling since. Chef Matt Louis and his team made us feel so welcome, so well taken care of and so full!

Moxy opened nine months ago on Penhallow Street, right in the heart of downtown Portsmouth. For those who don't know, to get to Portsmouth from Boston you just hop on 95 and head north for about an hour and ten minutes and - voila! - you're there.

Moxy is nestled into a classic, New England looking brick building on Penhallow Street.

I love the tangerine paint color! Even though it was cold and rainy outside, we immediately perked up at the sight of this electric store front.

For those who need a little explanation on how a door works, Moxy spells it out for you.

The same tangerine color from the exterior of the restaurant glows from an illuminated sign on the hostess stand. As you can see, Moxy's color scheme is tangerine, sage green and a deep pink. Are these people up my alley or what?

On the bar side of the space in lieu of art work, the definition of the word moxy is painted on the wall, "Noun meaning attitude of fearlessness in everyday circumstances, to have gusto." I think we could all use a little more moxy.

Above the bar and against the exposed brick wall was a list of all the wines currently being served.

The bar area had bright, lime green chairs and a bar that glowed like a mothership beckoning you home.

We were seated in the front of the restaurant, in the window, right next to the Julia Child nook. This very adorable table seats six or seven people and you get to dine with legend Julia watching over you. Your meal is also made visible by the glow of any old fashioned traffic light. How cool is that?

As I said, we were seated in the front window with a great view of Penhallow Street. The Moxy menu that awaited us at each table setting was a bold lemon yellow. The tapas are broken up into categories to try and make the menu more digestible for those who are unfamiliar with tapas style dining.

In addition to the regular menu, there is also a menu called the "Fab Five" which is a five course, prix fixe menu.

As we tried to get our bearings with the multiple menus Chef Matt came over to introduce himself. For those who are unaware, he used to work for Thomas Keller, the culinary genius behind the French Laundry and Per Se.

I asked Chef Matt about the "Fab Five" menu and if it was meant to be like a tasting menu and he said, "We actually started doing the Fab Five to ease people into the idea of tapas. We've found that many of the local diners aren't familiar with this style of dining and we wanted to offer them something that took the thinking out of it."

Having lived for a year abroad in Spain I can't imagine someone not knowing what tapas are or how you eat them, but thank goodness Chef Matt is educating people!

While on the subject of the menu, Chef was sure to show us the reverse side of Moxy's  menu which shouts out of the local famers who supply their kitchen with produce and proteins.

Chef told us that they print new menus every single day because the dishes are constantly changing based on what is fresh and in season. I love that!

We were about to attempt to select menu items when Chef Matt graciously offered to create for a true chef's tasting menu - a menu that is completely improvised and unique to just us. We were floored.

Once we agreed to this royal treatment he warned, "Ok, I am just going to keep sending things out until you say mercy."

Eager to see what would come out of the kitchen, we started with two glasses of house sangria, red for me and white for my dinner date. We both really enjoyed our renditions.

The first dish to arrive is actually a regular on the Moxy menu, the chili scented crispy kale with pumpkin-sunflower seed granola. Who would ever think to pair kale with granola?

Each piece of kale was perfectly crisped so that when you bit into a piece it crumpled in your mouth. You could really taste the chili which gave it a nice kick.

I wasn't a huge fan of the kale and the granola paired together in one bite, but my friend loved the granola so much she asked to take a box home to sprinkle over her yogurt the next day for breakfast.

Our second dish was Johnny cakes stuffed with roasted root vegetables, maple glaze and creme fraiche.

I kid you not, this was the best dish all night. I could have eaten ten more. The Johnny cake was so light, the roasted root vegetables tasted hearty but the maple and creme fraiche gave a final note of sweetness that was heavenly. In fact, my friend said, "That was a little cloud of heaven."

Next, four soldiers arrived at attention. Two pieces of apple and two pieces of pear, both grilled, served over a bed of caramelized onions and topped with chevre and roasted pumpkin seeds.

This dish had a great texture. I was worried that the fruit might taste mushy from the heat of being grilled, but they were exactly the right consistency. The pumpkin seeds added a needed crunch to the dish. My dinner date gushed, "The best bites are the ones with a little of everything - pear, onion, pumpkin seed and cheese. You have to get the cheese on the fork."

For the next course, we had two mushroom dishes. Chef came out from the kitchen to present us both of the mushroom offerings. Before he described either one he said, "All of the mushrooms we serve here are local. They come from a great place called the New Hampshire Mushroom Company. They forage everything themselves."

The first mushroom plate was bear's head mushrooms (Chef says they actually look like bear's heads) over butternut squash puree and goat cheese, topped with micro greens.

This dish was one of my favorites. The mushrooms were lightly breaded and their natural flavor mixed with the sweetness of the squash puree was excellent. We made this one disappear in 30 seconds flat.

The second mushroom dish was oyster mushrooms served with beets, micro greens and radishes over a pear-vanilla puree. Would you ever think to combine those ingredients?

Before I could even take one bite, I had to ask our waitress what that gorgeous colored shaving was and she explained, "That is a watermelon radish. Isn't it beautiful?" It really is.

In this shot you can see the pear-vanilla puree serving as the sea the mushrooms float on.

The watermelon radish actually added a nice crunch to this dish which was sweeter than you would expect due to the puree.

It was at this point in the meal that we had the opportunity to meet, Amy, the farmer who provides all of the rabbits to the restaurant. She had stopped in on this cold evening to share the trio of puddings dessert with her two little girls. Now this is really eating locally! She not only provides protein to the kitchen, but she also brings her family in for meals.

As if you needed another reason to believe that local cooking is the best cooking, please take in the stunning orange color of the yolk of this hen egg.

I couldn't wait to cut into it and watch that gorgeous color run across the plate.

The hen egg was sandwiched between two portions of patatas bravas (my favorite tapas dish) or as they are called on the Moxy menu, patatas Portsmouth. These were not just any potatoes, they were a combination of potato wedges and house made potato chips. This dish was simply divine. It had that breakfast for dinner flavor profile going on.

The next plate to arrive was the brown butter cauliflower served with carrots and crispy sunchokes, over a butternut squash puree. Rejoice! This is on the Moxy menu so you can have it any time.

I couldn't get enough of this. I am really into cauliflower and the pairing of those cauliflower heads with the sliced carrots and the sweet squash puree, made for a perfection winter dish.

Now, in advance of our arrival, I had let the Moxy team know that my dinner date was mostly vegetarian, but she does eat seafood. As a special treat for her, Chef Matt personally delivered a Martha's Vineyard oyster topped with pickled ginger and spicy pepper relish.

I was amazed by the beautiful presentation of this dish. My oyster eating friend shared, "The oyster tasted so fresh, like it came straight out of the ocean. The pickled ginger was a really fantastic touch."

On the far end of the oyster plate was a fried clam. Though she gobbled it right up she admitted, "The oyster tasted so clean and then the fried taste after it almost cheapened the dish. I wish I had just stopped at the oyster."

Chef Matt came around again and he was grinning! He said, "I am excited to tell you this is a first at Moxy. You are the very first people to ever try this dish." What he brought to us was hasty pudding frite lettuce wraps, complete with three sauces and a side of pickled cucumbers.

Hasty pudding tastes a bit like polenta. In this case, these tasted more like polenta fries, which is one of my biggest guilty pleasure. The hasty pudding nuggets combined with the fresh, crisp lettuce was awesome. I really loved both the BBQ sauce (when does a vegetarian get to have BBQ sauce!) and the creamy sauce, which tasted somewhere in between blue cheese and ranch.

It was at this point that we called over our waitress and said, "We hate to do this, but we have to cry mercy! We really want to have dessert, but we don't know if we can handle another savory dish without having to unbutton our pants." She lifted an eyebrow and answered, "I'll let him know, but I think I saw one more plate up there with your name on it."

She was right. Chef Matt brought over one final savory dish, Anadama bread topped with parsnip puree, caramelized sweet potatoes and celery root chips. The Anadama bread was the star of the dish. It had such great texture and crunch (from cornmeal, we learned) which was the perfect polar opposite compliment to the creamy parsnip puree. The sweet potatoes were delicious, but the celery root chip on its own was way too salty. Don't take it off the toast!

Did you notice the brush stroke of puree on the serving board? No stone unturned here at Moxy.

Though we thought we might explode, we had to try dessert.

The first item to arrive was the whoopie pie sliders served with chocolate dipping sauce. No you did not hallucinate that, something that magical really does exist.

The whoopie pie was insanely delicious. A light cake, a sugary filling and the added bonus of extra chocolate for dipping. You didn't need the chocolate sauce, but when in Rome, right?

We also sampled the molasses cake served with spiced pear chutney and a dollop of ice cream. I am not normally into anything molasses flavored (leave that to the vegans), but this was surprisingly great. The cake tasted even better with a spoonful of ice cream.

Last, but certainly not least, was the fried dough with a quadruple threat of accompaniments.

I don't even like fried dough and I wasn't going to try this, but my dinner date kept rolling her eyes in that way you do when you're experiencing pure ecstasy, so I thought I better see what the fuss was about it.

Moxy's fried dough is lighter than any variety you'd ever receive at a fair ground. Additionally, this dough comes with chocolate sauce, apple chutney, maple syrup and apricot marmalade.

I can't believe I am saying this, because you all know I hate fruit dessert, but the best topping was the apricot!

Do you feel full reading about everything we consumed? Imagine how it felt to actually indulge like that.

Well, it's official, I am a Chef Matt Louis and Moxy restaurant fan for life. I have never felt more special than I did during this meal. To have a custom, vegetarian tasting menu just for us was such an exceptional treat.

I am not the only one singing Chef Matt's praises. His kale and granola dish was just named to Food & Wine magazine's list of Best Snacks.

I really cannot say enough about Chef Matt's talent, the hospitality of his staff, the beauty of the space or the admiration I felt learning about their genuine commitment to local food.

Visit Chef Matt and the Moxy team at 106 Penhallow Street in downtown Portsmouth, NH. You can also keep up with them on Facebook and Twitter.

What are you waiting for? Get in the car!

 

Molly Galler

Welcome to Pop.Bop.Shop. My name is Molly. I’m a foodie, fashionista, pop culture addict and serious travel junkie. I’m a lifelong Bostonian obsessed with frozen confections, outdoor patios, Mindy Kaling, reality television, awards shows, tropical vacations, snail mail and my birthday.

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Address:
Moxy
106 Penhallow Street
03801 Portsmouth , NH
United States
New Hampshire US