Restaurant Review: Spring House, Tenafly, NJ

It’s summer in the suburbs, and we enjoyed an outstanding dinner in a garden setting, fragrant with meats grilling on the large open-air grill!

The Spring House in Tenafly is a Northern New Jersey restaurant located in a majestic old house with a large back and side garden. It has been designated as a historic building. Valet parking is offered to all guests, making access stress-free in a largely residential locale.

We were welcomed by Executive Chef/Manager/Co-Owner Paco Fieola, a man of many talents and a true international restaurateur. Chef Paco has devoted his career to using only the best seasonal ingredients available for his gastronomic creations, many of which are imported in order to achieve his required level of excellence.

While his menu changes frequently with the seasons, he always reverts to classic Roman cuisine, which represents that city’s specific dishes and flavors. Yes, Roman cuisine is a very distinct segment of Italian cooking, and it’s fairly simple with a reliance on fresh, very seasonal ingredients and some unique dishes.

If you wish to experience the delights of Roman cuisine, you can always take a flight to this ancient city and look for a local restaurant, whether a locanda, an osteria, or a trattoria. They are often family-run, specializing in that traditional, regional cuisine. 

Or you can make a reservation at the Spring House and enjoy Roman specialties, as well as regional dishes that Chef Paco discovered and made his own in his many years of working in different countries with different cuisines. 

The Spring House is a friendly environment with both indoor and al fresco seating. One room of this large restaurant houses a very popular bar. We decided to eat al fresco, and we loved it since the weather was perfect.

Sitting in the garden, serenaded by “The Songbird” (more about this below) and reading the extensive appetizer menu, we decided to have a “meze” style experience – small plates that would give us a good idea of the kitchen’s abilities, accompanied for me by a glass of cold, slightly sweet Brachetto d’Acqui wine. Barbara had a long Pain Killer rum cocktail, but both our drinks were from the “Airstream Bar” at the back of the backyard.

On this occasion, we had dishes that you can partake of in specific Roman neighborhoods or nearby towns. Hidden in the heart of the city is Rome’s Jewish Quarter (the Ghetto di Roma 1555 to 1870) located in the area known as Rione Sant’Angelo near the Tiber River.

Carciofi alla Giudia (Jewish-style fried artichokes) and Fiori di Zucca (fried zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta cheese and anchovies) are two very distinct dishes adored by tourists and locals alike. We enjoyed them many times during our Roman adventures.

These were two of the starters we were delighted to find on the Spring House menu, as they aren’t often found on this side of the Atlantic.

In Rome, fried and smashed artichokes can be found with either baby or full-sized artichokes, but I prefer the smaller ones. Carciofi alla Giudia involves a two-step process – frying the artichokes first at a low temperature until tender and then refrying them a second time on higher heat to crisp them up.

In Rome, there’s an artichoke variety called cimaroli that’s free from the choke. They trim them, cook them, and eat them without worrying about the hairy center. Pure delight!

The other plate to die for was “Fiori di Zucca Ripieni.” Zucchini blossoms, stuffed with ricotta blended with herbs and lemon zest, and then battered and deep fried. It’s served with a red sauce from Amatrice. They use rice flour rather than all-purpose flour to make the stuffed flowers crunchy and light.

Chilled Club Soda or Seltzer Water is a key ingredient to keeping the batter light. It’s a very seasonal dish that is beloved by everyone! 

We also had smoky grilled octopus on a bed of hummus with olives, pickled onions, large-sized pickled caper fruit, Calabrian pickled peppers, and fresh oregano – a ubiquitous Mediterranean meze dish. We also had fried calamari, which was crispy fried with Calabrese peppers and sage, served with a delicious marinara style dipping sauce.

Finally, we had what the menu called Small Lamb Bites with tzatziki, cucumber, lemon, olives, and a clay container of roasted Hen of the Woods – a rare wild mushroom.

Whoever is the sommelier, he/she has put together a very interesting list of representative Italian wines. Not that many bottles, but it was a very well thought-out list. It included a delightful Supertuscan, a very good Brunello, an outstanding Barolo from Piemonte, and many other very descent reds.

There were also nice bubblies from Italy and France, good whites from Italy, France, and the USA, a few French Bordeaux and Burgundies, and a couple of Kosher bottles of interest.

There are draft beers from Seven Tribesmen Brewing, plus Stella Artois and Bud Light in cans and a non-alcoholic beer version. There are also seasonal, as well as always available, cocktails and 6 non-alcoholic ones.

I was surprised there were only a couple of red bottles from Argentina and no reds from Chile that produces some very exceptional and well-priced reds. Also, the list contained only 3 Spanish reds and no whites or cavas. But I quibble!

We tried the swordfish kebab, cooked on the nearby outdoor grill, whose odors had been drifting by our table since we sat down. If you have ever had swordfish souvlaki or swordfish kebab at a seaside Greek or Turkish taverna on the Eastern Mediterranean, you will instantly recognize that smoky delicacy!

The Santa Maria Charcoal Grill of the Back Yard makes skewers and burgers and grilled vegetables. There’s a separate list of grilled specialties for the Back Yard, so ask for it.

The outdoor bar was an Airstream travel trailer, which has become an American icon on the road, and parked at the back of the garden. There is also the very well attended large bar area indoors, but al fresco was our preference!  

Another interesting feature, present every other week in a tent at the garden’s corner, was a purveyor of oysters and lobster rolls called “The Oyster/Lobster Party.” The oysters come on a plate of shaved ice, and they were plump and tasty. Barbara loves oysters, so she was in seventh heaven.

I, on the other hand, love lobster, which I usually cook at home in dark stout beer. Here, the lobster comes out of the shell, stuffed in a milk roll that has been buttered and grilled.

Live entertainment is presented in the garden from Thursday to Sunday, so we were fortunate to catch a young woman with an incredible voice. Our waitress, Valentina, who was knowledgeable and very pleasant, told us that it was the first time that the entertainer “The Songbird” had appeared at the garden. I hope they will make her a permanent fixture because she was really good!

We were full, but who can resist a dessert and a double espresso? Certainly not us! Thank you Spring House. All in all, it was a great evening. The weather was amenable, the food was exceptional, and the entertainment was outstanding.