Sunday, March 11, 12:00 noon
Members $55, guests $65

"Every once in a while a restaurant comes along that is so spectacular, it is almost in a class by itself. That's what we have with...Rat's."

Could you ask for a better opening line? And this wasn't some easily swayed small-town critic. It was the Philadelphia Inquirer's John V. R. Bull. Even more amazing, this dream of a review wasn't unique. New York Times critic David Corcoran concurred. "In its fifth month of existence, Rat's is already close to gaining a place in New Jersey's tiny circle of extraordinary restaurants," he wrote. Corcoran gave the restaurant, housed in a re-creation of a French provincial château, a rating of "excellent," praising chef Eric Martin's cooking as "beautifully balanced, firmly anchored in his French and American training but contemporary in its love for other cultures and fresh ingredients." Writing in the Star-Ledger, Cody Kendall stated simply, "Rat's emerges as a complete triumph."

The child of French parents, Martin grew up in Long Island, inheriting his keen interest in food from his dad, who was head chef for Air France. His first job was at the Le Parker Meridien in New York City under Christian Delouvrier. After graduation from the CIA, he spent a year in France, working under the world-renowned Joël Robuchon. When the young Martin returned to New York, he also returned to his first mentor, Delouvrier, this time at Les Célébrités, rising through the ranks to chef de cuisine. Executive chef posts at Restaurant Raphaêl and Dava in New York followed. Seeking a quieter place to raise a family, Martin moved to New Jersey, where he took over the stoves at the celebrated Stage Left in New Brunswick before signing on at Rat's.

If you've read this far, you deserve to know-why "Rat's?" Surely a garbage-eating rodent is not a promising name for a restaurant. The restaurant consultant made the same point. But J. Seward Johnson, Jr., the noted realist sculptor, millionaire, and Rat's visionary, insisted. Rat's is named for the kindly, hospitable Rat in The Wind in the Willows. (Plus, it spells "star" backward.) Johnson's vision behind Rat's, as well as the beautiful 22-acre Grounds for Sculpture park that surrounds it, is unique on all counts. The gardens and restaurant are modeled after Claude Monet's home in Giverny, France; an apartment above the restaurant includes a bedroom that is an exact replica of Van Gogh's bedroom in Arles. Outside, more than 160 sculptures dot the grounds. Johnson believes that that viewing art should be "a joy to the senses," not intimidating or academic.

Martin feels the same way about his food.