The Other Critics

David Ansill and Bar Ferdinand Are a ‘Remarkable Pairing’; Seared Foie at Matyson Is ‘So Good’ It Could Make a Seven-Year-Old’s Head Explode

• Brian Freedman says that Chef David Ansill and Bar Ferdinand are “a remarkable pairing,” and the succession of tapas that make up his tasting menus “handily encapsulates so much of the joy of Spanish dining.” A “two-bite delivery system for umami” that comes in the form of a hard-cooked egg with meaty white anchovies, he adds, “was one of the wholly unexpected stars” of the tasting. The chef’s homemade demi-glace adds a “Curtis Mayfield sense of soul” to the oxtail in pearl-onion agrodolce, and the diced trotter served with a dish that’s affectionately called Three Little Pigs, “melted on the tongue like swine-butter.” [PW]

• Though not necessarily the city’s toughest critic, he’s most likely the youngest, and in his latest update on Tasty Sausages: A Food Blog, seven-year-old Jett brushes aside his fear of lobster to tackle the tasting menu at Matyson. He “really didn’t like” the ahi tuna with uni, winter citrus and Szechwan peppercorn, because he “really only likes tuna that comes on sandwiches. You know…the cooked kind.” Seared foie gras with banana bread, hazelnut, duck skin and coffee maple was “so good” that his “head exploded,” and “might have been better” than the foie griddle cakes at Meme. Pumpkin seed soup with lobster, barley, squash and mint confirmed that his “taste buds for lobster still haven’t changed.” However the veal sweat breads with curried lobster, cauliflower, almonds and leeks proved “salty and sweet and really good.” [Tasty Sausages]

David Ansill and Bar Ferdinand Are a ‘Remarkable Pairing’; Seared