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It all started in the early 1930's with a couple Henri & Jeanette Diage who immigrated from France and worked in New York City at the time. Then one day about ten years later decided to leave the Big City and move out to the country New Jersey this was in 1940. They decided to buy a farm with 200 or so acres and it wasn't to long after that Henri Diage wanted to put his talent of cooking to good use.
They started to contact their friends in New York to have them come and spend a weekend with them at The Farm this went on for a period of time you can just imagine what happened next the friends told other friends and the groups started to become larger and the name of the farm started to get around that there was a Farm in N.J. where you could go for some camaraderie and good food for a weekend not to far from the city.
The Diages realised that there was a potential here so they applied for a liquor licenses but the township would not allow liquor to be served unless their were people staying overnight. The couple then decided to build two buildings for room and board totaling about 60 rooms. The township then granted them a Liquor license.
Well that idea took off and it quickly becoming a restaurant and weekend getaway. Remember at this time it was the fifties and W.W.II had finished that was the time of the large influx of immigrantes so the ones that made it over were afraid to leave America for fear they could not come back. This developed a need for a place where the french immigrants could get together .This idea took-off and the Restaurant's name became The French Farm.
Some of the chefs that Henri Diage worked with would come out and help him cook for the groups and organisations of people that came to stay from N.Y. They were now beginning to serve Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner the food was served family style. This was growing big and now they were doing large banquets in the restaurant.
As the place grew they added amenities to the restaurant such as, Tennis Court ,Boules( bocchie) court and the swimming pool since they had land they cleared some trails through the woods for walks . The Soccer field was added later when the Ivaldi's aquired the restaurant.
The chef at the time who was working with Chef Diage was Chef Francis Ivaldi and his wife Marcelle. It wasn't umtil 1961 that Francis asked his brother Guy Ivaldi and wife Jacqueline to join him to buy the restaurant. When the Ivaldi?s aquired the restaurant they continued the French Club traditions.
The Ivaldi's continued to develop and raise the standard of the restaurant. The relationships with the French clubs continued to develop. They were The Stade Breton, L'Associasion D'Alaceien, The Vatel Club, Societe Philanthropic which is still active today. You can imagine the great atmosphere that was present it was a lot of fun and festive. Most of the members of these clubs are now some of the Lead Maitre'D's and owners some of the famous French Restaurants and Hotels in New York City today.
This tradition went on until the early 1970's when we experinced the gas shortage.This event in history started the decline of particpation in the Clubs and driving out to N.J. for vacation. The Ivaldi's brainstormed and developed, The Gourmet Menu, what became a benchmark for cooking and helped to rejuvinate the clientele for Silver Spring Farm.Then in 1974 tragedy struck the family Chef Francis Ivaldi died of a massive heart attack and the restaurant closed for a week and chef Guy Ivaldi became the new Head Chef and it wasn't to long after Guy & Jackie bought out the remaining shares and became sole proprietor. Marcelle stayed for a short time until she retired and went back to Marseille France where she lives now.
Chef Guy Ivaldi and wife Jacqueline were now starting to create their charming French Country Inn in the woods of Flanders. In the decades following , Silver Spring Farm's sophisticated staying power was based on Chef Ivaldi's masterful renditions of the classic and innovative French Cuisine coupled with Jacqueline's charming, expert stewardship of the dinning room. The changes that were made appealed to the American Clientele. The Gourmet Menus developed the restaurant greatly, because the menu was pre-selected weeks in advance. It consisted of a seven course meal everything from "soup to nuts" it was a lot of fun and a lot of food sometimes the client would have to go for a walk during the service to digest before the next course. This idea went on for fifteen years. In between these years they started to introduce
A La Carte dining.
Silver Spring Farm is still going strong today with the supervison of Guy Ivaldi in the kitchen and Jacqueline with her son Jean-Jacques (who trained at the renowned Hotel School of Lausanne, Swtizerland) together they graciously attend to the Grandchildern of the Ivaldi's early patrons. They continue to create by adding the wine tasting menus in the early 1990's which were wonderful and fun and still do them it allowes for creativity and variety to the regular menu.
Truly, The Silver Spring Farm is New Jersey's "Grande Dame" of la cuisine Francaise. In recognition of this status the Zagat?s survey of 2003 sited it to be careful french cooking ,warm atmosphere and superb setting the fare makes American's and Francophiles welcome.
If you yearn for a little bit of France without having to fly come to Silver Spring Farm in Flanders it's a lot less expensive and much closer.
Merci, A Bien Tot.
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