Spring training knickknacks aside, the venerable Scottsdale steakhouse is all but unrecognizable after a gastropub-minded makeover.
While sipping a Moscow mule at the Pink Pony’s horseshoe bar in downtown Scottsdale, I watched a man approach the bartender. “This isn’t the Pink Pony I remember,” he said with a note of astonishment and nostalgia.
Reinventing a legendary restaurant can be a tricky business. You can try to capture the original experience, throw caution to the wind and take a fresh approach, or try for a happy medium.
Mark Shugrue seems to be going for the third option. A restaurateur with properties in Lake Havasu City and Sedona, Shugrue reopened the restaurant in February, giving it an updated urban feel with an outdoor patio, exhibition kitchen and a 10-seat chef’s table. But he also managed to keep the old-school vibe with high-back leather booths, baseball memorabilia and vintage photos from the Pony’s 1960s heyday.
The revamped menu – created by Executive Chef Donald Fawcett, who cut his teeth at Salty Sow and Renegade Canteen – has transitioned from straight-up steakhouse to contempo-American with wood-fired pizzas, traditional entrées and some creative sandwiches, including fried bologna ($9) featuring house-made mortadella. To kick off your meal, you can’t go wrong with the nosh board ($16), a charcuterie-style mishmash of cured meats – including smoked pepperoni – plus a trio of cheeses, vinegary pickles, pistachios and hunks of toasted bread. It’s a bit pricey, but a nice assortment. Hand-cranked beer brats ($10), two plump and juicy tubes draped in sautéed onions and set on pretzel bread with stone-ground mustard, were hearty enough for dinner.
The roasted beet salad ($13), a mix of arugula tossed in a balsamic-honey vinaigrette with red beets, toasted pecans and warm whipped goat cheese, was light and refreshing, but for the price seemed a bit skimpy.
Pizza lovers will devour the Debris ($14), topped with house-made andouille sausage, duck bacon, pork belly, Brussels sprouts and manchego, and the Roman ($13) with fresh mozzarella, prosciutto and arugula.
Smoked ribs ($21), an ample rack of tender pork baby backs, came with crisp skin-on fries and a ramekin of bland barbecue sauce. Better: basted sea scallops ($30) – four plump orbs dressed with lime vinaigrette on a bed of house-made chorizo and fingerling hash with Swiss chard. The 18 oz. bone-in Niman Ranch rib-eye ($38) was a disappointment, gristly and undercooked. Garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach almost saved the dish, but both lacked seasoning.
Top off dinner with PB&J beignets ($6). Fried to order and stuffed with peanut butter, these sinful pillows are covered by a delicate wash of grape glacé and served with crème anglaise for dipping. The dense caramel apple upside down cake with vanilla bean ice cream ($6) was peppered with bits of apples and drizzled with salted caramel.
Pony management has a few service kinks to iron out. While the wait staff is friendly and helpful, each of my visits was attended by a 30-45 minute wait for my order – even on nights when the restaurant wasn’t busy.
Kinks aside, it appears the legendary Pink Pony will ride again.
DETAILS
The Pink Pony
Cuisine: American
Contact: 3831 N. Scottsdale Rd., Scottsdale, 480-945-6697, pinkponyscottsdale.com
Hours: 11 a.m.-midnight daily; 11 a.m.-3 p.m. lunch; 5-10 p.m. dinner. Limited menu all other hours.
Highlights: Nosh board ($16); basted sea scallops ($30); Roman pizza ($13); PB&J beignets ($6)
