Bluefish bar to follow casual trend

The owner of downtown Spokane restaurant Moxie has started work on a lounge-style restaurant and bar just down the block.

Bluefish, which is expected to open at the corner of Sprague and Lincoln in late September, will provide evening and late-night drinks and dining intended to complement Moxie, said Eric Nagano, one of four partners in Cuisine Northwest, the restaurant management company recently created by Moxie owner Ian Wingate to oversee Bluefish and Moxie Catering.

The 3,000-square-foot restaurant will have a light dinner and desert menu, with a bar featuring wine, martinis and other drinks “still in research and development,” Nagano said. He said prices will be similar to Moxie.

“It is a little more loungy, a little more casual,” Nagano said. “We want it to a sort of Moxie lounge and eatery, yet let it have its own identity.”

The restaurant is based on trends Wingate has seen emerging in larger cities — lighter meals and drinks that are available late at night. Bluefish will open at 4 p.m. and close at midnight or later, every day but Sunday.

Nagano said the bar will be located in the front of the building, with restaurant seating in the back for 100 to 120 people. There will be a private meeting room behind the main restaurant equipped with a flat-screen TV and equipment hookups for people to “meet by the day, party by night,” Nagano said.

Nagano said Wingate is launching Moxie Catering with the opening of Bluefish. The catering business will use the Bluefish kitchen, which is larger than Moxie’s, and will initially only cater the dishes on Moxie’s menu. He said the business will cater events ranging from small groupings to larger events such as weddings.

“Moxie is constantly getting requests for catering,” Nagano said. “It was hard with the small kitchen, we were kind of limited. Now we can service all those requests.”

Nagano said Cuisine Northwest has plans to expand its restaurants into North Idaho and Spokane’s South Hill, but could not provide specific dates or locations.