Are you on the hunt for fun, flavorful food that upends expectations while still evoking familiar faves? Get yourself to Any Day Now. Perched on a high traffic corner of South Capitol Street SE in Navy Yard, in the former ABC Pony space, the 60-seat restaurant is a collaboration between Tim Ma, the veteran chef-restaurateur whose ventures have included Lucky Danger, American Son in the Eaton DC hotel, Shaw’s Kyirisan, and Water & Wall in Arlington, and chef Matt Sperber, who spent time working at The Salt Line in Ballston, Sean Brock’s Husk in Charleston, and Momofuku CCDC. Sperber oversees the kitchen, while Ma offers creative input; they share ownership. Open every day for breakfast and lunch with dinner available Thursdays through Mondays, the fledgling eatery proves you can be an all-day concept without sacrificing consistency or ingenuity.

You will be a happy soul if you start your day there, because the breakfast sandwich is the best in the city right now. (I Egg You, Cracked Eggery, Sunday Morning Bakehouse, Northside Social, and Yellow the Café also put out strong contenders for the title.) Swathed in a micro-bubbled scallion pancake, a square of steamed egg cloaked in melted American cheese and swiped with mayonnaise is paired with your choice of bacon, maple sage sausage, or vegetarian kimchi. Indulgent and irresistible, the sando has already gained a die-hard following: On a recent Sunday, they sold 350 in just four hours. Pair it with a cup of Red Rooster Coffee or their take on Vietnamese coffee featuring a puff of ube foam, intensely strong coffee, and condensed milk.

Starting at 11:30 a.m., the restaurant begins offering a Big Mac-inspired burger, which also comes swaddled in scallion pancake. To promote it, Ma has obtained a Hamburglar costume. He hasn’t broken it out yet, but I pray it makes an appearance on social media sometime soon, because the world needs more chefs in funny costumes.  

Any Day Now really hits its stride when it opens for dinner at 5 p.m. The menu explodes with options, divided into snacks, small plates, and larger format, shareable entrees. In the former two categories, there are a few must-order dishes. First: tostones-inspired plantain tots with whatever-herbs-are-leftover Green Goddess dressing (it was cilantro forward on both of my visits). Next up: the sourdough-based panzanella-meets-gyro cucumber salad punctuated with merguez sausage and feta, both made in house. Finally, there’s the Fancy Omelette, reminiscent of the now-iconic omelet from the second season of The Bear, though it was apparently devised before the season debuted. Sperber’s is filled with sour cream and onion dip, lavished with truffle oil, topped with caviar, and finished with crushed Zapp’s salt and vinegar chips. This extravagance hits all the right notes: salty, tangy, creamy, full of umami.

When it comes to the bigger propositions, the spare ribs glistening with sweet guava plum barbeque sauce are a crowd pleaser, but the vegetarian eggplant katsu steals the show. With a crunchy crust and satisfying chew, the mock cutlet is an admirable stand-in for the usual pork. The bowl is filled out with rice, a rainbow of pickles, fresh herbs, and curry sauce inspired by Vermont Curry, a brand popular with home cooks in Japan known for its sweet edge courtesy of apples and honey.  

Turning to dessert, cakes rule, with a nod to the sprawling pastry case at the now-shuttered Amphora Diner in Vienna (its sister location in Herndon is still going strong). Top of your to-do list should be the coconut custard cake, a beyond coconutty confection that makes eating a can of Coco Lopez seem restrained by comparison—in a good way. Yuzu curd pie feels like a cross between key lime and lemon meringue, and I’m not complaining. And if you’re Team Raisin, like me, go for a slice of the classic carrot cake studded with a healthy dose of golden raisins.

On the liquid side of the menu, the wine list hews to female winemakers, small batch vineyards, and natural wines, while the cocktail list brims with irreverent throwbacks. “It’s a lot of those 1980s and 1990s drinks that people love to hate on, which we zhuzh-ed up a bit to make more interesting,” says general manager Ryan Ward, who handles the beverage program.

The Sex Pistol, for example, is a Cosmo made with sake along with sumac, pomegranate juice, and citric punch, while the Master Wamu riffs on the Long Island Iced Tea featuring cola, oolong, and Don Ciccio & Figli fernet. All are named for characters and storylines from the Japanese anime JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, which the restaurant hopes to screen on an old TV at the bar in the future. Speaking of upcoming plans, don’t expect this to be the only Any Day Now, though for now, Ma is staying mum about the particulars.

Any Day Now, 2 I Street SE (771) 200-7362. anydaynowdc.com.