Here is a press-release from Pony at 3558 Sagunto Street in Santa Ynez:
Alberto Battaglini, co-owner and operator of five-year-old Santa Ynez café, Pony Espresso, has officially announced new chef and head of concepts, Jonny McDermott, as the pair transforms the locally-loved establishment from Pony Espresso to PONY Cocktails + Kitchen. As of September 17, 2024, PONY temporarily closed for a slight décor refresh and to prepare for the launch of new dinner service and cocktails, reopening with the new name in the following months. The revised restaurant concept will boast new breakfast, brunch, and lunch menu items, a full bar featuring a cocktail program designed and executed by Battaglini, and the afore-mentioned launch of dinner service.
Chef Jonny McDermott, raised in the Santa Ynez Valley and a Santa Ynez Valley Union High School alum, began his cooking career at the Mirabelle Inn in Solvang under former chef/owner Norbert Schulz. Hooked by his first restaurant kitchen experience, McDermott decided to formally further his culinary education, enrolling in The French Culinary Institute’s San Francisco Bay Area school. Earning Dean’s List honors and top marks in his class, McDermott graduated in 2014 and proceeded to work at MICHELIN-Starred Madera restaurant at the Rosewood Sand Hill in Menlo Park, California. McDermott remained at Madera for the next three years, an experience which he described as his “masterclass” in proper cooking.
Returning to California’s Central Coast region, Chef McDermott worked locally as a sous chef at Alisal Ranch, and the former Sear Steakhouse in Solvang, as well as opening executive chef of LOCAL Montecito, and as opening executive sous chef at The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern, Auberge Resorts Collection, in Los Olivos.
Chef McDermott lists Chefs Fergus Henderson, Fred Morin, David McMillan, and Ian Driscoll as his culinary inspirations. He considers his style of cooking “French in technique, Italian in spirit, and Californian at heart.”
New or updated daytime menu items at PONY carry a weighted emphasis on simplistic, clean, comforting foods with fun, yet familiar elements, and flavorful additions. PONY will continue to offer the café’s popular items like “Hungover Hash,” a roasted potato and local vegetable dish that also includes avocado, house salsa, soft boiled egg, and herbs, and the “Sunrise Burrito” loaded with eggs, potatoes, ‘nduja, a blend of cheeses, house salsa, and avo.
PONY will feature weekly specials with rotating ingredients to keep things seasonal, as well as items like “The PONY Double,” which takes shape in a double smash burger with American cheese, “magic” sauce, caramelized onion and pickles, on toasted brioche. “Berto’s BLT” delivers a dressed-up diner version of the sandwich classic, with herb aioli and a balsamic redux, while the chicken parm panini heats things up with spicy marinara, Calabrian chili aioli, and balancing mozzarella.
A native of Verona, Italy, Battaglini originally trained as a chef, but his global travels inspired a slight change of hospitality direction to the world of bartending and craft cocktails, with an emphasis on customer experience. He landed in the Santa Ynez Valley in 2013, and opened Pony Espresso in “downtown” Santa Ynez in 2019. As a Santa Ynez Valley resident, Battaglini’s concepts are geared toward locals with a goal of fostering community.
“I would say that my first mark on this region was redefining the Valley’s cocktail scene, shortly after I arrived here in 2013. My program for PONY will further that effort, as it allows me to create and manage a cocktail list without confines. I’ll be able to express my preferred talent in liquid form,” said Alberto Battaglini, co-owner and operator of PONY Cocktails + Kitchen.
PONY’s cocktail program will include a wide range of creations from brunch-friendly tipples to classic dinner drinks. In “Pelo de Perro,” which translates to “hair of the dog,” Battaglini’s South American twist on an infamous brunch or hangover cocktail, he combines mezcal with green chili, pineapple, agave and herbs like basil, mint, and cilantro, to craft a refreshing yet surprisingly complex concoction.
Other brunch-forward drinks planned for PONY include a nitro espresso martini and Battaglini’s “Kicking Mule” (vodka, ginger extract, cucumber juice, mint, lime, honey), which will serve as nods to PONY’s “Espresso” beginnings, as well as some of the more “entertaining” four-legged residents of the Santa Ynez Valley. Battaglini also plans to post a section of zero proof cocktails.
The dinner cocktail selection will continue the notion of simple-yet-complex offerings, incorporating Battaglini’s nuances, Italian influences, plus Latin flavors. Cocktails made for lively conversation at the bar will include the likes of a nitro Negroni (gin, Campari, sweet vermouth, saline solution, olive, lemon), “Damn Bird” (house rum blend, pineapple, Campari, lime juice, Demerara syrup, milk-washed), “Common Grape,” an ode to local winemakers (tequila, grapes, sage, super lime juice, agave, pinot noir salt), and, “Mr. Rooster,” with beeswax-washed whiskey, vanilla Chartreuse, ginger extract, lemon, honey, and Peat Monster spray.
“I’m also planning a particular ice program. I like to keep things streamlined, but also playful. I enjoy changing the game sometimes, breaking out of what can become local ruts,” added Battaglini. “Jonny and I see hospitality in a very similar, and bizarre, way. We love what we do, but want to have fun with it. And we want our customers to have fun, too.”
PONY’s dinner-leaning cocktail list is meant to accompany new evening dishes like Chef’s porcini donuts, or stracciatella with roasted figs, toasted hazelnuts, honey, balsamico, and mint. The casual menus will encourage patrons to order from any section, mixing and mingling more-traditionally appetizer items with full plates like roasted cod (buttermilk, smoked trout roe, braised leek, chive), or a whole sea bream “a la plancha” with ladolemono sauce, tomato, cucumber, avocado, and red onion.
PONY’s revolving desserts will be prepared in-house, and will also reflect Battaglini’s cultural mashups in items such as Nutella Hot Cocoa, consisting of fresh churros, whipped crème fraîche, and burnt cinnamon, or a salted bourbon crème brûlée with Luxardo cherries.
PONY is located at 3558 Sagunto Street, Santa Ynez, CA 93460. PONY is currently open daily for coffee service, breakfast, brunch, and lunch, with indoor or outdoor patio dining, 7:00 AM to 2:30 PM (temporarily pausing current service and hours as of September 17). Upon reopening, PONY Cocktails + Kitchen will offer daily daytime menus, 7:00 AM to 2:30 PM, with dinner service Wednesday through Saturday, 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM. To reach PONY directly, please call 805.691.9187.
