Ansill cooking French again, at The Good King Tavern
New menu launches Friday at the Bella Vista French bar.
Few shuttered bistros of late hold as many memories as Pif, and to some extent Ansill - both led by chef David Ansill. (Pif, a French BYOB, is now Bibou near the Italian Market, while the more broadly Euro-influenced Ansill is now Ela in Queen Village.)
After Ansill closed in 2009, the chef went off to the Caribbean before returning and landing the executive chef's job at Bar Ferdinand, the Spaniard in Northern Liberties' Liberties Walk.
Last month, through an unusual arrangement, Ansill began crossing the Pyrenees - as it were - to run another kitchen simultaneously.
He's cooking French again, as executive chef at The Good King Tavern (614 S. Seventh St.), where he relieved opening chef Paul Lyons.
Ansill's new menu - executed by chef de cuisine Mike Blau - starts Friday, July 24. You'll see flashes of 15 years ago: the escargots in pernod, the socca, the duck confit, even the beet salad.
There also will be a blackboard menu.
Ansill also still makes a mean paella.