Local restaurant, Mock Orange ties in history of the Pacific Northwest

Where D Willy’s used to be, is a new bright orange restaurant, Mock Orange.

The restaurant was named after Idaho’s state flower, the syringa, which is also known as mock orange. The owners also chose the name because the space used to be a flower shop.

Ryan Town and Christina Mangiapani, co-owners of Mock Orange, said the name ties in the history of the building with a bit of history from the Pacific Northwest.

“It was Lewis’ mock orange. So, Lewis and Clark came through and Lewis identified the plants and thought it looked a lot like
an orange blossom,” Town said. “A cool regional name that gave you some pause. And then for over 50 years this building was a flower shop in downtown Moscow. When I was a kid, I remember this being a Moscow florist (shop). So, it was cool to find a way to tie it all together.”

The food they serve is street style, something Town said he thought was missing in Moscow.

“So, we just wanted a sort of a street food inspired, from scratch, inexpensive hangout place,” Town said. “We just tried to have a menu where everything was craveable and tasty. And then try to keep art here and fixed prices as low as we could.”

Drink wise, they serve Kamiak coffee and have four beers on tap to choose from.

“We have one tap that’s dedicated to IPAs, one that’s dedicated to local beers, and then the other two rotate through whatever we think is seasonally appropriate,” Town said.

The owners wanted the space to be somewhere people could come and get a quick bite to eat or hang out with friends. That’s why there’s no Wi-Fi or TVs, they instead keep board games in the restaurant.

Before the restaurant opens on a typical day, Town and Mangiapani can sometimes be found playing a game of Connect Four.

“We don’t want it to be a fancy place,” Town said. “We want people to come in and hang out and just kind of have a few beers, maybe play some games, maybe meet a group of friends.”

Town said he started out in the restaurant business and has been a part of it for the last 15 years in various places.

“My chef career was kind of winding down,” Town said. “I wanted to move home and find something to do here in Moscow.”

Town said they were not looking aggressively for a place to start their business, it just kind of happened.

“We kind of on a whim decided to ask about this space, and it turned out it was available,” Town said. “We found out in October, and we opened up in November.”

Mock Orange is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. They are located at 112 West 6th St.

Kali Nelson can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @kalinelson6.