The movie recently “Julia and Julia” has debuted on big screens across the country and has rekindled our passion for exceptional cuisine in many of us. As the film’s Julie and Julia explore the enormously challenging tasks of mastering French cooking at home, my wife Fran and I re-ignited our palettes for the equally satisfying pleasure of eating at a fine French restaurant.
But where to go?
Living 48 minutes from Midtown Manhattan and its seemingly endless inventory of chic French restaurants, bistros, and cafes definitely has its advantages; but this time we decided to point our GPS west to see if we could spot a more “country inn” type of establishment to fill the bill.
We recognize that our Garmin NoviGPS it is actually a wonderful electronic Ouija board. We touch the screen, ask a question:
“Hermione, (that’s what we call our GPS because she speaks with a British accent) is there a nice French country inn half a tank of gas west of our house here in Maplewood, New Jersey?”
“Recalculating… at the bottom of the driveway, turn left.”
and in an instant [well, more like 45 minutes], we hit Flanders, New Jersey and Silver Spring Farm French restaurant. This charming Inn is conveniently located very close to Route 80, close to Budd Lake and the village of Mount Olive.
Arriving an hour before our 5:00 reservations, we were greeted, however, by the “Grand Dame” of the hotel, Jacqueline Ivaldi. Standing with perfect posture at the reservation station, she smiled and said, “Welcome! Welcome to Silver Spring Farm.”
“Thank you, we were an hour early and wondering if we could get an early seat.”
Feigning seriousness, he actually walked back into an empty dining room, looked around, and then returned to the station. “Yeah, you’re in luck,” she said, “we can get you in.”
We all had a good laugh and knew immediately that we had made the right decision to visit Jacqueline, her husband, chef Guy Ivaldi, and their son Jean-Jacques (who trained at the renowned Hotel School in Lausanne, Switzerland). They have been running The French Restaurant at Silver Spring Farm since the early 1940s. Here, refugees from a devastated post-WWII France could break out of their strange and unfamiliar surroundings of New York City and “vacation” not far from the city for a weekend or sometimes longer with conviviality, bonhomie and of course incomparable French cuisine.
Silver Spring Farm has a website, so I won’t waste time listing their unique and distinguished menu here. However, I will give two tips. First, go there hungry. Portions are generous and irresistible; and trust me; you don’t want to find yourself full before dessert. Second, ask about off-menu specials. I had a sampler of chicken, beef and lamb in three different sauces that I can re-experience days later just by closing my eyes and touching the tip of my tongue to my palate, yum.