DanVerhill

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

Instead, he launched One Trick Pony, a restaurant he describes as "a casual, low-key bistro." One Trick Pont was, and is, a different place, fronted by a large windows and offering open space and a choice of streetside tables when weather permitted. A key element was a chef-inspired menu using scratch ingredients. There was one more twist -- one that is now a One Trick Pony trademark. The restaurant incorporated fusion cooking, quite new at the time, into its cuisine.

This adaptation of traditional recipes merged with a creative range of ingredients and spices worked...and still does.

A Taste Adventure

One Trick Pony is open for lunch and dinner and features a versatile menu. Start with appetizers, such as Louisiana Crab Cakes, Portabella Caprese -- diced tomatoes and fresh mozzarella and basil -- or Saffron Garlic Hummus.

Add a soup -- a chef's choice daily -- and a choice of specialty salads. How about a Greek Shrimp Salad with feta cheese, kalamata olives, tomato, artichoke hearts, and black tiger shrimp embraced by a balsamic vinaigrette? Or there's a Dried Cherry Dijon Chicken, featuring flavor accents that include cucumber and seasonal fruit.

From there you can indulge in sandwiches, pizza, pasta, or a selection of entrees ranging from fresh lake and seafood to chicken, steak, and chops.

There are classic sandwiches -- Build Your Own Burger, Honey Dijon Chicken, Smoked Turkey Club -- and more exotic options, such as the One Trick Panini, a sourdough sandwich stuffed with smoked turkey, red onion, lettuce, tomato, smoked gouda, and bistro sauce.

Pasta dishes include the Jerk Chicken Chili Pasta, a spicy menu staple since One Trick Pony's opening.

Luncheon pizzas offer meatless options, such as the Margherita and a Vegetable pizza loaded with a gardenful of colors and tastes. Lunch and dinner entrees encompass fresh catches -- such as Pesto Rubbed Salmon and Walleye fillet encrusted with parmesan cheese and Italian bread crumbs -- as well as chef creations. The Moroccan Pork Chop is bathed in exotic Mediterranean spices and cooked to order. You half expect to see Bogie and Ingrid Bergman at the next table when it's served. There's also a Portabella Wellington, tucked into a puff pastry with sauteed spinach and Spanish onions, plated with vegetarian wild rice, a fresh vegetable, and shallot gravy.

Lunch or dinner can be enhanced with a glass of wine, by the glass or by the bottle, or a selection from a list of domestic and foreign beers. Wine flights -- a monthly rotation of three choices -- gives patrons the opportunity to sample a variety.

And don't forget to leave room for dessert, which varies daily.

Food As Community Resource Verhil and One Trick Pony take the from-scratch concept to heart and look to their neighbors for the right stuff. Verhil relies as much as possible on local food sources -- steaks from Byron Center, produce form Ingaberg Farms in Rockford, and other supplies where locally produced. He's a good neighbor in other ways as well. Both restaurants play host to ongoing community events. The Cottage is well-known for co-sponsoring an annual Chili Cook-Off. One Trick Pony, along with 88.1 WYCE-FM, plays host to Hat Trick and Acoustic Stew concerts -- events featuring nationally known artists and funded through donor giving. Verhil estimates over $60,000 has been raised for local charities since the dawn of this decade. Not bad for a sales rep.

For reservations and other information, call: 616-235-PONY (616-23-7669) or visit their website.

-- GF