New Scottsdale spot is the neighborhood restaurant Old Town needed

When a new spot opens in town, we’re eager to check it out, let you know our initial impressions, share photos and dish about menu items. First Taste, as the name implies, is not a full-blown review but instead a peek inside restaurants that have just opened – an occasion to sample a few items and satisfy curiosities (both yours and ours).

New Old Town Scottsdale spot, Ponderosa House, has two halves. When visiting, we recommend stopping by both.

At the front, near the intersection of Marshall Way and Indian School Road, sits the cantina. Here, customers can drop in and sip a margarita in the cozy, modern yet still Western-themed bar decorated with photographs of the Arizona desert and a large picture window that looks out onto the Old Town street strung with lights.  

You can also eat in the cantina. But on a recent visit, about six weeks after the new concept opened, we mosied outside, across a few parking spaces and past a small patio, to the second half.

This space is simply called the house, and offers an entirely different vibe. Where the bar is casual, this dining room is more upscale. Low-top tables fill the square dining area, which features the home’s original wooden floors, red brick fireplace and ceiling beams along with sunny yellow walls and golden-hued lighting. 

Ponderosa House opened in May and was brought to life by Jacob Finley, the restaurateur behind the longtime Old Town neighbor Karsen’s Grill. While Finley was thinking about how to expand Karsen’s, the former home to Frank & Lupe’s Old Mexico became available.

“You can’t find a better location than that,” Finley told New Times last fall. 

As a fan of the former Mexican and New Mexican restaurant, Finley knew the space and resolved to pay homage to the cantina. In the back, he renovated the small house, originally built in 1922, to become the main dining room.

The style is comfortable and has a hint of a mid-2000s-era home, making it feel welcoming and familiar, like you’re eating in a family friend’s dining room. There used to be more spots like this in Scottsdale, but over the last decade or two, they’ve often been replaced by international chains, steakhouses that promote excess and restaurants where shouting is required to communicate.

Ponderosa House bucks these trends. It is not flashy, it is not over the top and nothing about it could be confused with a club. It harks back to a time of neighborhood haunts and it might just be exactly what Old Town needed.

What to order at Ponderosa House

After a warm greeting and a handshake from the owner, we settle into the plush seats surrounding a large circular table, and order some drinks.

We select the peach tea-infused bourbon tipple, the Peachy Ponderosa and the Lottie Deno, both $17. The owner overhears as we pick out the unique cocktail, and excitedly describes it as “like pico de gallo in a glass.”

When it arrives, the vegetal tipple is served up, in a delicate Nick and Nora glass. The drink mixes Mexican oregano-infused St. George green chile vodka, St. George Basil Eau de Vie and clarified tomato water, garnished with a few drops of oregano oil. The flavor lands somewhere between a bloody mary and a dirty martini, and we find that this savory sip makes us hungry for dinner.

To start, we share ahi tostadas and the Ponderosa Pan Y Pimiento ($21 each). The tostadas come five to a plate, with each tortilla chip loaded to the max with raw diced tuna and cucumber mixed with lime, salsa macha and tamari. On top, a few strands of bright pink pickled onions, crispy fried shallots and cilantro add more color and texture. Each bite is cold, refreshing and full of different flavors that blend to make up an exciting dish.

The Pan Y Pimiento is our first foray into what the restaurant calls “Arizona-born” food. A classic pimento dip gets a douse of the Southwest with a sweet and tangy guajillo pepper and tomato jam. It’s served with thick-cut bacon and grilled bread perfect for scooping and sharing. The juicy jam makes the creamy cheese pop and leaves us scooping up every drop.

The entree list includes tacos, burgers and sandwiches which range from $18 to $21 and a section titled “The Chuck Wagon,” encompassing larger and more elevated options such as filet mignon ($72), airline chicken ($34) and market fish from Chula Seafood.

Flavors of the Southwest once again blend with comfort food in the El Puerco Pasta ($24). Here, pork shoulder ragout gets kicked up with green chiles. The gently spicy, rich sauce is tossed with a mixture of mushrooms, broccolini and rigatoni. The whole dish is topped with a dusting of cotija cheese and breadcrumbs. The pasta is hearty, savory and fitting, as it feels like something that would center a family meal.

From the handhelds, the Pastrami Senor is a winner. Building blocks of Kruse pastrami, grilled onions, smoked gouda and toasted sourdough also get a dose of green chiles with diced peppers and a spicy aioli. The sandwich is served with Ponderosa’s signature fries, which are prepared over 48 hours.

In the full dining room, there’s a wide range of customers. Families gather to share a meal. A lone diner grabs a beer at the bar and watches baseball on one small screen. Couples bask in the warm lighting and make googly eyes over dessert.

After dinner, we head back over to the cantina for a nightcap. While the restaurant serves a well-rounded cocktail list, the cantina serves a different drinks menu, which we’re eager to try. The vibe is darker, moodier and perfect for sipping a F.A.F.O. or Fig Around, Find Out ($20). The decadent dessert cocktail features reposado tequila, Licor 43, espresso and fig puree. It’s the perfect end to this two-part night.

With its one-two punch, it would be easy to become a regular at Ponderosa House. And with its decidedly neighborhood feel, we’re sure it won’t be long until locals do just that.

Ponderosa House

4121 N. Marshall Way, Scottsdale