HAPPY HOUR AT ANSILL

What started uncomfortably -- walking in at 6:15 to an empty happy hour -- ended with sated satisfaction. Bottom line: good food and a good happy hour. Albeit, with a couple bumps in the road.

First, there was the entrance. My brother & I were greeted from the opposite end of the bar by the bartender, a waitress and David Ansill himself. But then they scattered, making me feel like the boss who just entered the room to find his employees goofing off. And then there was the other greeting - that awful sanitary, chlorine smell that seems to haunt every restaurant in the late afternoon/early evening until things get going again. Let me digress and editorialize for a moment (and this is not just about Ansill)... I like cleanliness too but what is the deal with the intensity of the chlorine? Isn't there a better approach? Are we so germophobic that we allow that antiseptic, washday smell to be the leading impression for a restaurant - instead of something like the sweet smell of grilling foods? Enough.

Drinks. Since the web site advertises $3 drafts of Yards at happy hour, it was bizarro world when our bartender told me with a confused look "We don't have Yards". It was like, why am I even asking for it ? (Am I the only one who reads restaurant web sites?) So, after a little more confusion, I found out that the RowHouse Red from Philadelphia Brewing Co. was the happy hour beer. That's fine and it was good. I guess the whole Yards - Phila. Brewing Co. split up has not yet been resolved at the network layer.

Anyway, soon (but not soon enough - and I'm sure David feels the same way) other people joined us at the bar, making the atmosphere more social and giving the bartender more to do than just reshuffle our menus. The happy hour munchies were great - the oysters, the cheese plate and even the hard-to-get-excited-about, open faced tuna nicoise sandwich.

More food... the charcuterie plate included a pair of sweet & flavorful dry cured salami accompanied by cornichons, baguette slices and unnecessary grainy mustard. Soup of the day was a saffron tomato soup with mussels and (I believe) leeks topped with a crouton and lobster roe. Unfortunately, the bartender had us expecting a caldo verde with spinach & chorizo, not the tomato based soup that gives my brother agita. I went with it and although I probably would not have ordered it, it was fantastic. The waiter made a very theatric apology and took my brother's uneaten soup off the bill but a little something else tossed in from the kitchen would have been a nicer makeup.

We also had the grilled chicken from the larger plates menu (note here that the term "larger" is a relative word) . It was also well prepared and came with a sprig of broccoli rabe and a grilled lemon.

All in all, a very satisfying eating adventure.

Also posted on YELP. Or, click here to see my other YELP reviews.