Spring
A restaurant grows in Bucktown - and thrives, thanks to a budding culinary star By Nancy Ross Ryan
Food photography: Laurie Proffitt
Interior photography: Stuart-Rodgers Photography
Frosted glass doors are the entryway to Spring, although the Zen garden that seen on entering is also visible to passersby on North Avenue. The inside maple doors open on a descending staircase to the bar, made of steel and mahogany which zigs and zags so people can cluster in groups rather than line up along a long, straight bar. The bar and lounge also has a full wall of white-glazed brick, preserved from bathhouse days. A stone pathway leads to the dining room which has tables along the walls and a two rows of back-to-back angled banquettes down the middle. The colors -- pale chartreuse, eggplant and toasty tan -- take on different hues given the ceiling light diffused through soft, looped fabric. Add crisp white linens, crystal stem ware and svelte well-balanced flatware, mute the noise with gray carpeting and you have an understated elegance that many restaurants aspire to and few achieve. The designer, François Geneve, is primarily a product designer and Spring is his first restaurant design. The newness of the project may well have produced the fresh, non-imitative look of the restaurant.
Pretty is as pretty does, and Spring does a pretty fine job with food and service The food is the labor of love of 34-year-old Shawn McClain, former chef for seven years at Trio restaurant in Evanston, and the coalescence of his unique personal style. McClain spent several years abroad with his family because his father was a military doctor. When he returned to the states and began attending college, he took a job at a local restaurant and, with no previous training, had rewritten the menu and was running the kitchen by the end of his first year on the job. By the end of his third year of college and restaurant work it became clear that he was spending most of his time and attention on the restaurant. So he enrolled in and graduated from the School of Culinary Arts at Kendall College in Evanston. Wherever he worked -- at Les Plumes and Prairie restaurants during school, and at the Boulevard restaurant in the Hotel InterContinental, McClain rose like a comet. In 1993 he took a position as a line cook at Trio, and within a few months became sous chef and the following year was named executive chef. At Spring, the food is an expression of his considerable culinary talent, from meticulous preparation to artistic presentation on a variety of shapes, sizes and colors of china and earthenware. His emphasis on the menu is on seafood, although there are the likes of Mousseline of New York State Foie Gras, Black Pepper Blinis and Fig Jam ($14), Roasted Duck Breast, with Brown Rice, Roasted Radishes and Tamarind Reduction ($22), and Charred Beef Tenderloin, with Crispy Soba Noodles and Baby Bok Choy ($26) -- and other such stuff of carnivore's dreams. But notice that the other major characteristic of McClain's cookery -- Asian flavors and ingredients -- are evident in the meaty dishes.
The menu is divided into chilled and warm starters, soups, an exceptionally nice vegetarian main dish section, fish and meats entrees and desserts. Before rhapsodizing about some of the dishes I have eaten, a word about service. It is attentive, without being oppressive, and the staff is very professional and knowledgeable about the foods and wines. And Ms. Sue Kim-Drohomyrecky is omnipresent in her role of sommelier and manager. (The third partner, husband Peter Drohomyrecky, was congenially manning the front desk every time I dined at Spring, although his name and identity are nowhere posted.)
But it takes a good server to rise above some occasions. One night when I dined at Spring with a companion, I noticed that the last item under chilled starters read: "Washington State, Spiced Ponzu and Fresh Wasabi ($11)." I asked our server if he didn't think that, although quite a bargain at $11, the entire state of Washington might be a little too large for an appetizer. It took him a while to realize that "Dabob Oysters" had been left off the menu when it was printed. He recovered himself nicely and when, at the end of the meal, I asked for a copy of the menu, I saw that the mistake had been corrected. My companion ordered the oysters and they were fresh, plump, simply garnished with a perfect slightly spicy ponzu sauce, and a dab of fresh pungent wasabi.
Dinner at Spring begins with a complimentary little bite of something wonderful from the chef, such as a tiny crosscut of spring roll with rare tuna. Among favorite chilled starters are Crispy Yellowfin Tuna Nicoise, Italian White Anchovies, Coriander and Olive Vinaigrette ($12) -- McClain's miniature and refined rendition of France's famous tuna salad. In McClain's version, the green beans are tiny, slender haricots verts, the eggs are quail eggs, the lettuce is tender baby lettuce, the tuna is fresh and barely seared and the anchovies are white anchovies, so mild and tender they hardly resemble the hard, tongue-numbingly salty, little strips I am used to being served as anchovies.
Peekytoe Crab Cake, Heirloom Tomatoes, Balsamic Vinegar and Virgin Olive Oil ($13), was in an alternative reality -- perhaps a parallel universe -- compared to most crab cakes. It was moist, sweet and delicately flavored, presented in a white bowl, and surrounded with red, green and yellow heirloom tomatoes at the very peak of juicy ripeness.
On one dinner occasion I absolutely flipped over the vegetarian entree Buckwheat Soba Noodles, with Wild Mushrooms and Chinese Mustard-Soy Broth ($14). Soba are buckwheat noodles -- a staple of Japanese cuisine -- so the menu listing was somewhat redundant (perhaps to inform customers?). The thin, nutty-flavored noodles were moistened with a spicy, salty broth and a delicious variety of cooked, sliced or chopped mushrooms. The most delicious of all were the bright red lobster mushrooms, looking and tasting like little chunks of cooked lobster.
Forgive me if I'm sometimes cranky about restaurant names -- NoMi, Molive´, Tanzy, 160blue -- that don't make immediate sense, even though I come to love the restaurants with all my heart. I'm a pushover for good food and service. So when a restaurant opens with a name that is not only recognizable but also makes such sense for its food and decor -- I'm beside myself with delight. Spring -- the season, to jump lightly, a bubbling up from underground of pure, fresh water -- all perfectly describe Shawn McClain's new restaurant by that name on North Avenue in the Wicker Park-Bucktown neighborhood. The restaurant is housed in the former North Avenue Bathhouse, a turn-of-the-century building with a façade of white-glazed terracotta. Inside, below street level where the pools used to be, some of the original walls of white-glazed brick have been preserved.
Roasted Red Grouper with Preserved Lemon Couscous,
Spicy Fennel Salad and Orange-Soy Reduction.
A much simpler and more Mediterranean dish is Grilled Prawns, Wrapped in Coppa Cola with Warm Artichoke Tabbouleh, Spiced Herb Sauce ($22). The combination of huge, perfectly grilled sweet shrimp wrapped in the spicy Italian bacon presents a seductive flavor, grounded by the satisfying, comforting warm artichoke-laced tabbouleh.
Because Spring's menu does, has already, and will change frequently, one of my and my companions' favorite entrees may, someday, not be there. So taste it while you can: East Coast Market Cod, Wild Mushrooms, Summer Squash and Sweet Pea Emulsion ($22). The cod breaks under the fork into large, luxurious white flakes, sweet and mild. This was accompanied on two different occasions with different mushrooms; the last time it was chanterelles, and there were truffles atop the cod. The last time it was also the end of summer, so the accompaniments were a corn risotto and fresh sweet green peas in a sauce. May the winter menu still offer cod, no matter what the accompaniments.
Sea Scallop and Potato "Ravoli" with Black Truffle and Mushroom Broth.
The Valrhona Chocolate Honeycomb, with Fennel Ice Cream, Fresh Yuzu and Citrus Confit ($8). The honeycomb is a white and dark chocolate garnish with a honeycomb texture that is propped against a dense, rich flourless chocolate cake square. The lovely green fennel ice cream is so sweetly delicious that I begin to believe that ice cream can be flavored with almost anything (eggplant? I don't think so.) The citrus confit, shreds of sweet Japanese citrus, is a nice flavor, color and textural accent. But my favorite dessert is Coconut Mochi Brulée with Warm Hawaiian Gold Pineapple ($6). The mochi, sweet sticky rice so popular in Japan, is made into a delicious smooth custard like pudding, flavored with coconut, caramelized on top and served with a bit of the best pineapple I have tasted outside Hawaii.
Spring is fine but not formal dining, with Shawn McClain's personal cuisine at its center. The restaurant, which opened in June, has already established high service standards. I'm betting that the logo, a combination of the letter S and the symbol for infinity, is a sign that it will be around for a very long time.
