Recently the movie “Julia and Julia” has debuted on big screens across the country and has rekindled in many of us our passion for exceptional cuisine. As the film’s Julie and Julia explore the enormously challenging tasks of mastering French cuisine at home, my wife Fran and I have 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 fine dining restaurants, bistros, and French cafes definitely has its perks; but this time we decided to point our GPS west to see if we could discover 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, we 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 a half 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 the French restaurant Silver Spring Farm. This charming Inn is conveniently located off Route 80, near Budd Lake and the village of Mount Olive.

Arriving an hour before our reservations at 5:00, we were however greeted by the “Grand Lady” of the hotel, Jacqueline Ivaldi. Standing with perfect posture at the reservation station, she smiled and said, “Welcome! Welcome to Silver Spring Farm.”

“Thanks, we arrived an hour early and wondered if we could get an early seat.”

Feigning seriousness, he actually walked back to an empty dining room, looked around, and then headed back 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-World War II France could get out of their strange, unfamiliar New York City surroundings 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. The portions are generous and irresistible; and trust me; you don’t want to find yourself stuffed before dessert. Second, ask about specials off the menu. 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 my palate with the tip of my tongue, yum.

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