While our trip to Chrysalis was quite enjoyable, for our last night in Franklin, Tennessee we decided to see what downtown Franklin was like. Unlike a lot of towns that have sort of sprawled out, Franklin actually has a nice, central Town Square, and an approximate 16 block downtown central business district that has been maintained with historic architecture. It’s actually a pretty nice area to walk around, and there are a nice selection of restaurants. We ended up decided to try Red Pony, which is across Main Street from the neon-adorned historic Franklin Theatre.
Walking into Red Pony, they’ve got the “dinner bar” ambiance down pat: a cozy, intimate interior with a large ornate bars (there’s another upstairs), exposed brick, wood floors, and high ceilings, with a nice, open view of the kitchen through some art-deco windows. But our table was upstairs, and they maintain the same basic decor with a second dining room upstairs, complete with it’s own, smaller bar.
Red Pony prides itself on its cocktails, with a good array of custom crafted cocktails. They’ve got everything from a house-spiced cider on the sweet end to a seasonal spirit-forward Old Fashioned. I ended up going for one of the tequila-based drinks, Da Big Boss Man, with Red Pony private barrel Patron anejo, pineapple Amaro, hibiscus aperitif, raspberry, and lime. Rather good, but starting towards the “fruit punch” end of the spectrum as I continued to drink it. Enjoyable and pleasant, but in the “I’ll just have one” way, if I got a second cocktail, I would have steered towards something more spirit-forward like the Old Fashioned, or the Old Man Down (bourbon, Laird’s apple brandy, Taylor-Fladgate Port, allspice dram, and orgeat). But a lot to explore if I find myself on a return visit.
In addition to all of their regular appetizers, Red Pony likes to provide a quick light appetizer to start the table off. This time, it was a small dish of pâte à choux gnocchi served in brown butter with truffle and lemon. This was a decent gnocchi, with just the right texture, and a decent little start to the meal.
For my actual appetizer, I decided to go with an item that raised my eyebrows a bit. I’m generally a complete sucker for a classic wedge salad, that wedge of iceberg lettuce topped with bleu cheese, bacon, onions, and tomatoes. Red Pony has a wedge, but they take it in a bold direction: it’s built upon a wedge of radicchio. I was intrigued, since radiacchio is usually a bit bitter, so I wanted to see how this turned out. Red Pony’s version is a nice wedge of radicchio with Beemster XO cheese, pomegranate, pistachio, brown butter, and acorn squash. The sweet notes of the pomegranate and acorn squash do a good job offsetting the bitterness of the radicchio, and the Beemster XO is a particularly good crumble cheese to round out the salad. I’d easily get this again, this was a great variant of a wedge.
While much of my group went for the beef dishes (they had a particularly good looking tenderloin and a ribeye special), I wanted to take this as an opportunity to hopefully get a Southern dish that I rarely see up North, and if I do, it’s usually not done particularly well, and that’s shrimp and grits. The version at Red Pony is pretty much your classic shrimp and grits, with smoked apple bacon, scallions, mushrooms, and a white wine reduction. This has a nice overall flavor profile: the shrimp perfectly cooked, the grits having a nice garlic-cheese base, and the topping adding some nice smoky, earthy, and onion notes without burying the excellent shrimp. I was completely satisfied with this, and would be delight to get it again.
With an attentive staff and nice ambiance, Red Pony is definitely a great spot for a nice dinner out if you find yourself anywhere in the southern half of the greater Nashville metropolitan area. I certainly had a great evening, as did my work colleagues.
