Ponyboy at Pearl Hotel

Every night of service at newly opened Ponyboy restaurant, general manager Ian Ward hears diners share how the menu conjures up fond memories of the dishes their grandmother used to make.

That’s the highest compliment Ward can imagine for the poolside Point Loma hotel restaurant, which is a midcentury-inspired eatery and bar that serves classic homestyle dishes, desserts and cocktails of the 1950s and ’60s, reimagined with a modern and sustainable perspective.

Creating Ponyboy’s menu started with Ward’s vast collection of vintage cookbooks, including several by his favorite midcentury food writer M.F.K. Fisher. Romero combed through hundreds of recipes to determine which dishes would be menu essentials, and how they could be re-created to suit the modern diner’s palate.

“A lot of those old dishes are too rich. We needed to lighten them up, find a way to make them visually playful and make them delicious,” Romero said. A few examples are his deviled eggs, which are cured in beets and hibiscus and filled with pistachio praline mousse; his ratatouille served kabob-style with al pastor marinade; and his Juicy Lucy burger with an artisan cheese-stuffed Wagyu beef patty.

A Ponyboy’s signature dish is the cheese Fondue for Two, served in vintage fondue pots from Ward’s personal collection of midcentury collectibles (keep an eye out for his vintage TV Guides in the restrooms, Lucite handle silverware and metal Jacks game pieces used as spoon rests). The fondue was inspired by the menu for another of Ward’s pop-up concepts: Irish Goodbye. “Fondue is hot again,” Ward said, adding that Irish Goodbye’s fish and chips is also on the Ponyboy menu.

There’s the top-selling Chicken Kiev, made with free-range chicken from an East County poultry farm and served with creamy Robuchon potatoes; a ceviche with a chilled mini-mold of Clamato aspic and fresh-caught seafood from fishmonger Tommy Gomes’ nearby Tunaville Market; and an ambrosia salad with market-fresh fruit and marshmallows prepared two ways. Then there’s the popular tuna casserole, made with fresh pasta, maitake mushrooms and Parmesan soubise, topped with seared local tuna coated in an onion-potato crust inspired by the potato chips grandma always baked on top.

“The grandmother attachment has been the most beautiful part of this experience,” Ward said. “Someone is on a personal journey at every table.”

Ponyboy, named after the lead character in S.E. Hinton’s 1967 novel “The Outsiders,” opened last month at the Pearl Hotel on Rosecrans Street, between Fenelon and Garrison streets.

The vintage menu is an homage to the history of the 23-room boutique hotel, which opened in 1959 and was acquired and renovated in 2019 by the Casetta Group. Ward said Ponyboy leans away from the “poodle skirt, doo-wop” vibe of the ’50s and leans into the “leather-wearing, comb in the back pocket” ’60s rebelliousness of Ponyboy and his fellow Greasers in “The Outsiders” (which has resurged in popularity thanks to the Tony-winning Broadway musical “The Outsiders,” which made its world premiere last year at La Jolla Playhouse).

Ponyboy is the first project of Service Animals, a new San Diego hospitality group headed up by creative director Ward, who spent the past eight years as the bar director for San Diego’s Addison, Southern California’s only Michelin three star restaurant. Three other Service Animals staffers also hail from Addison: culinary director Daniel “Danny” Romero, wine expert Kyle South and hospitality expert Patrick Virata.