Conscious Choice: Spring's Not Over Yet

September 2001 | Conscious Dining

Spring's Not Over Yet

by Lauren Malloy

Spring is a different kind of seafood restaurant than the ones we’re used to seeing. There are no fishnets or plastic crabs hanging from the walls, nor any fish swimming around in a tank. Instead, the place looks Zen to the point of being almost bland; Japanese-like screens separate zigzag-patterned booths resting on carpeted floors, while dried branches and leaves cast shadows on pea-colored walls decorated with little else. A feng shui expert was consulted to give the room the proper balance of organic elements and we did feel a certain sense of calm and peace that we may or may not have imagined.

The menu offers a mix of Eastern and Western sensibilities. Asian flavor elements and techniques are superimposed over a wide variety of seafood items, with mostly successful results that, in any case, are always interesting. Even desserts are intriguing blends of exotic ingredients most of us never heard of, such as lilakoi sauce or chilled lychee soup. Spring is a collaboration of veterans from Evanston’s four-star rated Trio restaurant, including its highly acclaimed chef, Shawn McClain, and its former maitre d’ and sommelier. Long awaited by those in the culinary know, the restaurant serves as a showcase for the chef’s considerable talents.

To get the dinner off on an Asian note, dinner rolls peppered with cumin seeds are served on the kind of smallish square plates that might normally hold chopsticks. A cube of butter centered on an oval platter plays to the motif of sharply cut shapes and edges. Next, the chef warmed up our taste buds with a complimentary tease, which on one night was a cross between a sushi roll and spring roll of ahi tuna resting in a slightly spicy soy-and-wasabi sauce.

Appetizers are divided into warm and chilled. The crab and smoked caviar salad, a chilled selection, was a mound of crab and water chestnuts the size of a computer mouse melded together by avocado and sweet pea purée lightly drizzled in a citrus vinaigrette. Caviar that exploded like tiny grapes were sprinkled throughout the mixture and made for an interested chewing experience. Shrimp dumplings in a "charred yellow tomato and vanilla nage" sauce that had the look of homemade ravioli in a creamy tomato sauce were wrapped instead in rice papers. An odd cross between Italian and Asian noodle cooking styles, the tomato sauce tasted slightly of ginger.

Beyond chilled and warm selections, which are exclusively seafood and meat based, soups are also available as appetizers. The two soups we tried were interesting takes on popular Asian soups. The Lemongrass Et Coconut Red Curry soup reminded us of Thailand’s famed tom kai soup, but without the chicken or vegetables, while the Lobster Egg Drop was a more refined version of the Chinese classic. Nearly a consommé of Thai herbs, roots, and spices, the curry soup was so fragrant, it almost seemed like an herbal remedy. More evenly toned, the egg drop soup had a pronounced lobster and wild mushroom essence that gave it an almost smoky flavor.

Vegetarians aren’t left behind at Spring. While the vegetarian section of the menu only includes two items at present, a salad and an entrée, at least strict vegetarians don’t have to ask their server whether menu items are 100 percent vegetarian. The entrée, a Warm Eggplant Masala, is not only an inventive option, it is also priced well below meat and fish items, and available as a half-priced appetizer. Almost sweet enough to pass for dessert, a purée of curried eggplant was wedged between layers of phyllo, giving it the look of lasagna or moussaka, but the taste of something more like pumpkin pie. A rim of cooling coriander-yogurt sauce nicely balanced the flavors.

Most menu items read like a Who’s Who of exotic ingredients, with Asian flavors accenting fresh fish and seasonal accompaniments. Chinese, Japanese, and American influences combine in the Wild Salmon Wrapped in Potato with Edamame and Chinese Fermented Black Bean. A log of salmon cut like a sushi roll is wrapped first in nori, then in a layer of ultra thin potato crisp. The fermented black bean sauce looks and tastes a bit like brown gravy, which gives the cooked fish inside an odd comfort-food feel. Edamame, the kind of fresh soybeans normally served in their shells at sushi restaurants, instead are mixed in with the gravy, giving them the appearance and taste of cooked peas.

Lobster-flecked mashed potatoes speckled with exploding caviar were made even more decadent by the citrus-cilantro green vinaigrette that surrounded the mound. The fish that actually topped the potatoes seemed less relevant, and changed over time — one week it was halibut, the next it was sea bass. While I still can’t quite get used to mashed potatoes with grilled fish, this item is another comfort dish.

The Red Snapper with Preserved Lemon Couscous, Spicy Fennel Salad, and Orange-Soy Reduction was a lighter option. A seared filet, crusty on top and moist underneath, was served skin side up atop a bed of what seemed more like wheat berries than couscous. The combination of preserved lemon, orange liquor flavor, and soy that permeated the sturdy grains gave them a delightfully sweet, sour, and salty taste that worked beautifully with the fish. Fennel salad, a slaw of slightly pickled fennel slices cut into fettuccine-shaped strands, toned down stronger flavors and provided added texture. While East-West fusion doesn’t always work, this dish is one that does, and gives new meaning to what fusion cooking can be.

While myriad strange and exotic dessert choices beckoned, in the end, we succumbed to Spring’s ode to the chocolate lover. A dome of chocolate began at the top as a mousse, solidified into a fudge-like layer at the center, then crystallized into health-bar-like consistency at the base. A moat of foamed almond milk around the dome nicely balanced its sweetness. Despite some initial trepidation over the unusual combination of flavors, we had no regrets once we tasted the heavenly Lemongrass and Kaffir Panna Cotta, a beautiful example of East-West fusion. The Coconut Mochi Brûlée was less brûlée than rice pudding, although it did have a crusty lid. Teeming with pineapple chunks, it reminded us of upside-down pineapple cake. When I asked who the talented pastry chef was, I was surprised to hear that chef McClain himself does the honors.

Spring, 2039 W. North Avenue, 773-395-7100.

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