--the 16th-century cellars
Instead of waiting for me to reach a conclusion paragraph at the end of this review, I’ll save you the time by saying up front Chef Daniel Rose’s Spring Restaurant in Paris definitely lives up to its hype. Was it worth the extreme effort to gain a table? Absolutely. Would I go again? In a heartbeat. In fact, I’d put Paris in the Top 5 Bucket List Vacations again just to return to Chef Daniel’s kitchen.
As I began to make my list of possibilities for dinners in Paris, Spring Restaurant very quickly emerged from the reviews as the top candidate for one of our evening meals. It also quickly became the most difficult table to secure as it is one of the few restaurants with almost no access via the internet. One either calls the restaurant directly during the tiny window during which they answer the telephone or one makes a booking in person. Both options proved extremely difficult. I was fortunate to enlist the help of the concierge team at American Express who made a series of telephone calls and reserved 2 spots out of a mere 26 to be seated in the dining room at Spring on our designated evening. (Just days after our dinner Chef Daniel introduced a new schedule offering 2 seatings for dinner and opened up his cellar wine bar to include its tables in Spring Restaurant’s inventory.)
Spring Restaurant offers only a chef’s tasting menu, but who could argue with the offerings from Rose’s kitchen. The 12 tables cluster around the kitchen for a true dinner theater experience. Starting with two amuse bouche, we progressed through six courses of the freshest, most creative culinary combinations I’ve ever tasted. Green peas, lima beans, fish, duck, raspberries, grapefruit all sacheted across my tastebuds, leaving a trail of fairytale magic in their wake. Combinations of fresh herbs, fresh vegetables, and perfect sauces kept each course new and satisfying to the palate. Pleasant banter among the tightly-seated patrons intermingled with comments from the servers as well as from the kitchen staff increased the enjoyment of the meal.
After most of the diners in the main room had reached their final course, Chef Daniel pulled up a chair to chat with me. Among the many conversation threads we pulled was a comment about how a Chicago boy reigned among the great chefs in 21st-century Paris. When I asked Chef if he ever considered opening a restaurant in the USA, he quickly instructed me as to why that was an impossibility. The contents of that conversation will come in a forthcoming post, so stick around.
Though we were unable to garner a table in the main dining room for a return to Spring Restaurant on one of our remaining evenings in Paris, Chef encouraged us to arrive in the hope of getting a bar stool around 7:30pm at the door of the wine bar he had created in the 16th-century cellar of his building. From the bar stools, one could order the main course from the tasting menu served upstairs in addition to ordering cheese and charcuterie plates. Following his instructions to the letter, we had the extraordinary pleasure of eating from his kitchen two evenings in a row.
As I mentioned earlier, two days after we left Paris, Chef Daniel changed the use and schedule of his dining room and wine bar. While lucky patrons who arrive early may gain one of the 6 bar stools in the cellar, the tables down there are now by reservation only. The good news is that Spring Restaurant now offers two seatings, introducing one that begins at 6pm, and has doubled its seating capacity. Furthermore, they are experimenting with an internet-friendly system for booking at least some of their available reservations.
In addition to the building in which Spring Restaurant and the wine cellar are housed, Rose has a wine store across the street. He and his partner host wine tastings there. Additionally, they are building a wine club program to feature their favorite wines from France.
In conclusion, I repeat my introduction. Perfect service, perfect food, perfect wine pairings, perfect setting (the cellars were supposedly built and used by the court at nearby Louvre Palace). The perfect meal may be capped by a moonlit stroll through the courtyards of the Louvre, which sits just a couple of blocks away. Did I mention perfect?
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