2019 was the year of scant review over here at Aditi Eats – i’m sorry i’m sorry, I know y’all really missed that sweet sweet content! Nevertheless – here’s one last one – and a new restaurant at that! As much as I like to eat out, its rare that I get to try something that is actually brand new. That’s why it was so cool to try ABC Pony within the first month of opening.
ABC Pony is an Italian-Asian pasta shop / restaurant in Navy Yard. Unlike a lot of other Navy Yard spots – the inside is actually…cool!! Surprisingly clean and upscale amongst very corporate looking spots, especially since its located in the bottom of a ~luxury~ apartment building.
The prices here are again, surprisingly good. All the cocktails are $10 (what!!!) with a selection of beer and wine – and free bread and olive oil! There are a variety of appetizers, vegetables/salads and pastas from $10-20. The portions are not anything big – but the flavors are so good I wouldn’t mind at all.
During the day, you can order at the counter, and during the evening there is waiter service. I went with my friend Erin for a belated birthday dinner and ordered the yuzu gimlet with lemongrass-infused gin, yuzu, and togarashi-seasame syrup. It was a good balance of bitter and bright without being sugary-sweet or painful to drink.
Our first dish was the mochi-fried shrimp. Um. Why aren’t more restaurants doing this? The dish was three large head-on (is that the right word?) shrimp fried in mochi batter. This is not the mochi filled with ice cream that many people are familiar with. Mochi is made from gelatinous rice flour, and when mixed and fried it becomes crispy on the outside but chewy on the inside with a hint of sweetness. It was served with a fra diavolo, a red tomato/pepper based sauce. This dish was the perfect representation of fusion, with the Italian shrimp and sauce and the Japanese mochi batter.
Next we had the Roasted Eggplant. I can barely describe the preparation of this dish in a competent manner – but it was basically strips of roasted eggplant topped with stracciatella, an egg and broth soup (not the gelato flavor!), with green olives, fried capers, a mysterious green sauce, and edible flowers. Edible! Flowers! I felt so fancy. I loved everything about this dish – I really appreciate when restaurants take simple vegetarian dishes seriously and do interesting things with the treatment of those vegetables.
For the main course we had the Agnolotti. This is a ravioli-like square pasta but was filled with a more liquid-like cheese filling. It was dressed in taleggio fonduta (what I understand to be a cheese sauce) with diced apples, topped with sesame seeds, sage, and sweet potato chips. Again, so good! It was creamy and cheesy without getting the feeling of cheese coating my mouth – the red pepper flakes and the rest of the toppings added texture.
The only thing lacking about their menu is the lack of creative dessert options. I can think of so many great Italian and Asian (such a broad category) desserts to play with here – but all they have for now is a few flavors of ice cream. I had cherry and Erin had chocolate – both were served with a fun little Italian cookie, reminiscent of biscotti. The ice cream was good, nothing terribly special – but desserts are definitely a room for improvement.
For a restaurant that has so recently opened, I felt like they really had their sh*t together – the menu and the aesthetic were well thought out, the quality of the food was incredible, and the prices were good for the quality. I will definitely be back to try more of the interesting cocktails and the pasta dishes – hope to see more interesting desserts too!
The Bottom Line
Interesting fusion food in a land of corporate meh restaurants. YAY!
Cone Rating: 4.5 Cones
Location: Navy Yard, Washington, D.C.
Price: $$$ (20-30ish per person if splitting)
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