Moxie's Bar & Grille
 Lodi, Ohio              Date of Visit  04/11/14               Website Not Functioning

Our local dental diva gave Steph a recommendation and certainly she must have a pretty good idea of what teeth like to chew during mastication, so we are headed to Lodi for a Friday fish fry. We made a trip to Lodi for fish before, The Lighthouse Café, and suffered tremendous disappointment. We remain eternally hopeful. Moxie’s Bar & Grille isn’t far past the off ramp from 224 and we find a square building with a loaded parking lot.
 

Chili Was Plentiful And Right Around Average
 

The building seems repurposed for the restaurant, or maybe a prefab steel box strangely walled into a restaurant. The dining areas are split, a small dining room to one side and a large bar with booths and tables on the other. There are things not to like about the place. It’s pretty stark and definitely loud with no attempt at dampening. There were also a lot of things to like about the place. Great and interesting mix of locals. Farmers, bikers, degenerates, and folks done up in their Sunday best for Friday fish. We even heard phrases like “ain’t seen you in a coon’s age” bandied about the room. Even the degenerates seemed like generally good people. The staff was in full on hustle mode, dashing around each other like an NHL team on a break-away. Not only were they quick and efficient, they did it all with a smile, even for us, the only diners they didn’t seem to know walking in the doors.

We tried some chili, a burger and the Lenten fish and pierogi special. The chili was a bean and grind mix, topped with cheddar and onion, and spiced into a strongly average bowl. Not a standout but nothing at all wrong with it.
 

The fish and pierogi plate arrived with two long filets, three potato pillows, a cup of slaw and two more of tartar sauce and sour cream. The coating on the fish won’t register in the favorites category but the fish was fresh, flaky and piping hot. Both the coleslaw and the tartar sauce are manufactured in an older world, gotta keep the family working style. Hear, richer and tastier. The pierogi had seen the bottom of a hot pan after being coaxed to temperature in a much more tender fashion. I don’t know if they are like this all the time at Moxie’s but instead of a heavy crackly crust, these got just a bit of caramel color lending a little texture and more taste to the yieldingly soft starch nuggets. Top with onions and butter and you have perfectly prepared pierogi.
 

There was also a recommendation for a burger. I took a picture of the menu so I would remember what all was on it. Picture’s not there, I’ll try without, regardless. The menu does not truly describe the scope of this gargantuan sandwich. When it arrived, the table next to us asked what in the world we had ordered and then had to put eye drops in to remedy the drying action of bugging out. I probably had the same look on my face. Piled into a six inch and wonderfully toasted Italian roll are lettuce, tomato and onion. Sure, why not? Atop the veg are three burger patties sitting side by side. Thhhrrreeeee, Thhhrrreeeee Burgers (You should hear the Count from Sesame Street as you read that). Now that I think about it the Wolfe Burger is sort of like conjoined triplet sliders, big sliders.

The patties weren’t well seasoned, if they were seasoned at all, but it turns out that made little difference. On top of the patties was a layer of Italian deli meats, grilled just crispy around the edges. Delicious but it's been done before. What really set this mess over the top for me was the thing I was certain I wouldn’t like at all. Instead of ketchup or mustard, this monolith is doused with sweet and sour salad dressing. Go ahead and groan, I did when I read it. Then I tried it. Brought a lot of it home and tried it again. Still a memorable burger. Moxie’s rangy bar menu results in better than bar food served by nice folks and went a long way toward redeeming dinner and fish in Lodi, OH.