McDuff's Food & Wine Trail: David Ansill

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Highlights from the Brewer’s Plate

The 4th Annual Brewer’s Plate, held Sunday just past at the Independence Visitor Center, was, as expected, a veritable frenzy of food and beer pairing madness. Though navigation of the grand hall could be claustrophobic once all attendees had gained entrance, there were rarely any lines that defied patience. There was enough food, though, to defy even the most wide-eyed and deep-gulleted of appetites. As you all know by now, I can eat. But I’d just about had my fill after the first hour. No worries though. That was perfect timing in that it allowed me, with a free conscience, to head upstairs to check out the event’s feature seminars. Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, conducted a beer and cheese pairing workshop, followed by a presentation on the physiology of taste by local sommeliere Marnie Old. Even without heading upstairs to the "VIP" tasting or the presentation room, there were plenty of highlights for all to see, drink and eat in the main hall.

Chef David Ansill of Ansill Food & Wine served up the funkiest plate of the night, with one of his signature dishes, pig's head terrine. Though it wasn’t paired with Ansill’s terrine, the most unusual brew in the hall was certainly St. Alban’s Old Ale from Dock Street. Based on an 18th Century recipe, it’s brewed with 16 different herbs and tastes like strong brown ale crossed with Amaro.

The prize for simple decadence, at least from what I managed to sample, has to go to London Grill's delicious pan-fried duck wings, which paired quite nicely with Stoudt's Blonde Double Mai Bock.

Yards, the brewery that arguably started Philadelphia's brewing renaissance, was in the house, pouring their flagship Extra Special Ale (ESA).

The most addictive dish of the night just may have been the braised and glazed chicken wings served up by Snackbar chef, Jonathan McDonald. Washing them down with Yards ESA made for one of the best pairings of the evening as well.

The guys from Climax Brewing Company and Choptank Oyster Company were looking a bit shell-shocked (yes, pun intended) as the evening began to wind down.

For many event goers, I'm sure things were a bit fuzzy by the end of the night.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Ansill Food & Wine

I finally dragged my ass over to Third and Bainbridge this past weekend to check out Ansill Food & Wine. Since its opening in February 2006 – and the subsequent death of David Ansill’s original digs, Pif, in July 2007 – I figured it was high time. Actually, the credit for making it happen goes to my wife, who planned the dinner as a birthday celebration for little old me. Thanks, sweetness!

Ansill seems to have built much of its reputation on Chef David’s willingness to source, prepare and serve offal and other less than typical animal parts. In practice, these dishes – bone marrow, pig’s trotters, sweetbreads and lamb’s tongue – occupy only a small part of a menu which is otherwise fairly straight ahead. Stylistic inflections from France, Italy and Spain abound. Thematically, Ansill Food & Wine places itself midstream in Philadelphia’s growing trend – started many moons ago at Dmitri’s and continuing with José Garces’ growing empire and places such as Snack Bar – for menus driven by small plates.

Every meal begins with a complimentary dish of flatbreads with white bean purée topped with hot oil. It’s a welcome change from the ubiquitous bread and butter or olive oil and a perfect something to snack on while perusing the food and drink options. Once decisions are made and orders placed, food quickly begins to arrive. Cold starters precede the cooked to order small dishes, followed by larger plates, with all items arriving randomly in order of readiness.

Clockwise, from top left: flatbread, steak tartare, trotters, roasted beets

Our “starter” plates included a marinated olive mixture, roasted beets, pigs’ trotters and steak tartare (missing the final “e” on the menu). The olives and beets succeeded by virtue of quality ingredients. The lightly pickled, just slightly snappy beets were accompanied by a few sections of orange, lending a bright, citrus accent to the beets’ sweet, earthy and briny core. Perched atop a generous portion of steak tartare, in a play on the traditional hen’s egg, was a raw quail’s egg. A bold hand with use of purple mustard along with the more usual seasonings made for a high level of zestiness, nearly overwhelming the simple pleasures of the beef itself. The steak’s freshness, though, was unquestionable. Pigs’ trotters were roasted, the meat shredded from the hooves and then rolled with parsley and seasonings before being compressed, sliced and finally pan fried. Served with a toss of pickled red cabbage, they were juicy little medallions of goodness, far removed from any visual association with their original place in the food chain.

My wife, currently a vegan with occasional vegetarian lapses, put the kitchen to the test. Ansill’s website states that, “We will accom[m]odate vegetarian and vegan requests.” She took them at their word, not mentioning anything when making the reservation, instead asking for something special when we placed our orders. Frankly, that’s a tough thing to do to any kitchen, particularly a busy one. Ansill passed with flying colors, at least to my spouse’s inclination. She was presented with a composed plate of five small bites: roasted Brussels sprouts; sautéed porcini and enoki mushrooms; endive and orange salad; tomato and tapenade bruschetta; and shoestrings of butternut squash with wilted greens. The kitchen could hardly be faulted for the lack of a vegan protein source; they delivered a creative array which played to the strengths of the ingredients on hand from the regular menu without seeming at all an afterthought. Bravo!

Clockwise, from top left: the vegan special, an underwhelming Barbaresco, autumnal sprouts, venison pappardelle

If there was a weak point with regards to the food, it came in the form of my “larger plate” selection: pappardelle with venison, pancetta and truffle butter. That truffle butter was not in evidence; the pancetta made nary an impact. Larger issues were at hand though. The pasta was overcooked. So was the venison – tender yet braised for so long as to rob the meat of its very venison-ness. Celery, as it turned out, was the dominating flavor of the dish. Oh well…. In order to have a vegetable somewhere in the trotter, tartare and venison mix, I’d ordered a plate of (non-vegan) Brussels sprouts as well. Roasted to a nice exterior char and infused with a touch of bacon, the sprouts helped to make up for the main course disappointment. So did dessert, which brought the food-related quality of the experience right back to where it had been. A light, creamy cup of chestnut mousse, dressed up with a ginger snap garnish, was a simple delight.

Service at Ansill is solidly executed. Working only his third shift, our server nonetheless showed an admirable grasp of the menu. His delivery, and that of the other front of the house staff, was personable, casual, precise and unobtrusive. I wasn’t familiar with the setup of Judy’s Café, the former denizen of the space, but the Ansill’s appear to have done a lovely job with designing their restaurant. An attractive bar anchors the main room, with comfortably spaced tables looking out on Bainbridge Street and affording an easy view of the goings on. Dark wood tones, gentle, artful lighting and rich colors make for a cozy atmosphere. The smaller back room which overlooks the open kitchen is, in contrast, more brightly lit – and cacophonously loud. The split makes for two entirely different dining environments, something which bears consideration, based on your group and mood, when making a reservation.

The main room at Ansill (image courtesy of ansillfoodandwine.com)

Beer and, in particular, wine share top billing with the food at Ansill. The beer list is solid if somewhat unexciting, filled largely with the usual suspects but peppered with occasional points of interest such as Jever Pils and Kostritzer Black Lager, both from Germany. The wine selection, though, is in need of some serious work. Manciat’s Mâcon-Charnay is one of the few hidden gems on a list that’s otherwise populated primarily by generic and underperforming producers. Both the Grüner-Veltliner by the glass and the 2004 Barbaresco from Produttori del Barbaresco (by the bottle) were underwhelming. A thorough reworking, with perhaps only a slight increase in average bottle price, could go a long way to bringing the wine part of Ansill Food & Wine more seriously into the mix. In the meanwhile, Tuesday is BYO-night and there’s a reasonable $15 corkage fee throughout the rest of the week.

The overarching concept at Ansill seems to be part wine bar, part snack bar (our waiter described the menu and execution as tapas-like) and part fine dining establishment. That’s a concept that’s hard to pull off, no matter how good the food. Of course, it’s a concept that’s impossible to pull off if the food’s not good. Ansill, for the most part at least, has the food part of the equation working in its favor.

Related reading: Pif Night at Ansill (September 2008).