Stats: Spring

2 or 3

times

a night, Chicago-born chef-owner Daniel Rose lops off the cork of a Champagne bottle with a saber at his Paris restaurant, Spring, 6 rue Bailleul, 1st arrond.; springparis.fr. 

1 in 20

 Number of bottles broken.  

0

printed menus

Servers ask guests if they'd like to know what's on the night's 84-euro prix fixe or be surprised. "There is no menu," says Rose. "We just make dinner."

Sample of a dinner worksheet.

44

seats

A team of five cooks, plus two apprentices turns out Paris-via-Chicago food for about 60 guests at dinner in two dining rooms, upstairs and

downstairs.

19

years

Spring executive chef Gilles Chesneau (left) worked with Michelin-three-star Guy Savoy for almost two decades at restaurant Guy Savoy (guysavoy.com) in Paris. He also re-opened the celebrated nouvelle cuisine restaurant Le Chiberta (lechiberta.com) next to the Champs-Elysées for Savoy before joining Rose at Spring. "Why do I hire guys with so much experience," Rose says. "So I can learn something."

800 

covers

Argentine-born maître d' Guillermo Campos oversaw dining rooms in Paris palace hotels turning out meals for 800. Now at Spring he smiles all the time.

500

napkins

a week need laundering.

1.2

tons

of chicken wings were purchased to make chicken stock in the first year Spring opened on the Rue de Bailleul. 

17

staff

make Spring run smoothly.

28

years old

Median age of Spring employees.

8 1/2

babies

Spring staffers have a happy family life. Rose's second child is on the way.

5

exes

First you have to find the right partner; being with someone else in the restaurant business helps.

1 

cookbook

Rose self-published his first book—illustrated with his own drawings—in 2013, available at the restaurant and online at springparis.fr. His inspiration comes from traditional cookbooks, like Escoffier's "Guide Culinaire" and French publisher Robert Lafont's nouvelle cuisine chef series. "I'm trying to do classic French food," he says, "when everybody else is trying to mix it up."