Comfort food for all

By Lyndsie Kiebert
Reader Staff

New Sandpoint food truck Moxie’s was born from a love for comfort food, frustration with restaurants and pandemic-induced job loss. 

Angela Woods and Taylor Ward in front of their new food truck Moxie’s. Courtesy photo.

Vegetarians and partners Angela Woods and Taylor Ward grew tired of the same old veggie burgers, fries and other unapproachable meat-free options on dine-out menus.

“Just because I’m a vegetarian doesn’t mean that I don’t want affordable junk food, you know?” Woods said.

When Woods and Ward both lost their jobs at the beginning of the novel coronavirus pandemic this spring, a growing dream became a reality: the couple bought a vintage Shasta trailer off the side of the road in Newport, Wash., and created Moxie’s — a veg-friendly grub destination for the Idaho Panhandle.

“[I]t’s extremely liberating and fulfilling to be in control of the direction that you want to take your business and we absolutely love what we do,” Woods said, adding that support from the community has been top notch from the start, and that it’s been a treat to serve vegetarian-friendly food to people who have found themselves underrepresented around town. “Receiving such awesome feedback from the people that we serve, and knowing that we’re taking care of a population that can sometimes be forgotten, is what keeps us doing what we do.”

The Brownie Crinkle Sando.
Courtesy photo.

Moxie’s has a rotating menu with an emphasis on local, in-season ingredients and comfort food — especially breakfast. The most popular dish, Woods said, has been the “fried chk’n” (tofu) on a buttermilk waffle with spicy honey cinnamon syrup.

“Even the carnivorous customers are surprised by how good this dish is,” Woods said.

She said popular Moxie’s bakery items include the spicy peanut butter fudge brownie, lemon white chocolate tart and their rotating flavors of cookie sandwiches — this week’s being lemon with blueberry buttercream, using blueberries Woods and Ward picked themselves at Riley Creek Blueberry Farm in Laclede.

Woods said that as a queer couple owning a business in North Idaho, she and Ward want people to know Moxie’s is for absolutely everyone.

“[I]t’s really important for us that we are known as a business that celebrates diversity and welcomes all,” Woods said.

Check out Moxies’ offerings Wednesday-Sunday at the Oak Street Food Court. Hours vary, so find Moxie’s on Facebook for updates. View the menu and order online at moxiessoulgrub.com.