USVI-On-Line

Ivy
It is downtown crossing but apparently the new trendy name is the Ladder district.

It is a cool looking place with a bit of a young hip vibe, I am not young or hip and did not feel old, so I guess that was good.There were 4 of us at 8:30 on NYE.

We had:
2 orders of Aranici stuffed with Fontina and Proscuitto- not enough proscuitto for me but still had great flavor
2 orders of Seared Tuna w/ some sort of cucumber sauce, similar to tzatiki sauce. It was very good and a nice sized portion
Steak Frites- I ordered them with out the truffle oil as I am allergic. This was a nice dish but I have to say that I think this dish is so "trendy" It is skirt steak with sauce and French fries. Very good, but just call it what it is.
2 orders of 3 cheese mac and cheese with Truffle oil- I did not have any but the rest of the tables said that it would have been much better if the truffle oil was left out of the dish.
Short ribs- I had a small taste and I thought they were very good, but it was not my dish and I don't remember what it was served with
Seared Scallops- I did not try this as I believe that there was Truffle oil on it as well. The scallops were very large and served on a bed of creamy potatoes. I thought it was an odd combination but the person that ordered it was happy with it.

2 cocktails and a bottle of $26 wine

Service was good, when I had made the reservation I indicated that one of our party had an extreme allergy to salt water seafood as well as sea salt. The host mentioned it as we were being seated and made a point of telling the server in fron of us, so I was very happy with that.


$181.00 plus tip

Thanks for the review.

We almost went to Ivy last Saturday after "The Nutcracker", but Don and I were both groggy from cold meds so decided to just head to someplace closer to home.

Didn't know that Downtown Crossing was now the Ladder District - I don't get down there much now that both Filene's and Jordan Marsh are gone.

We were just up your way for few days plus New Years Eve. Stayed at the Onyx near Boston Garden. That’s a Kimpton property which is a very nice sort of boutique chain that you should consider on your urban travels. We stayed in one in Portland Oregon that was good too.

First Night was fun – best experience was some amazing Scottish fiddle music by Hanneke Cassel at the Park Street Church. Cool to see the ice sculptures and midnight fireworks. Was a little disappointed that the new Institute of Contemporary Art was closed while we were there. Is that worthwhile?

Also had some fine meals.

Awesome chowder, thin crust brick oven pizza, and salad with warm crispy goat cheese at lunch/brunch at Sonsie on Newbury with nice cold Stella on tap.

Rock solid traditional home style eggplant rolatini and shrimp risotto at Piccola Venezia.
Perfectly cooked wood fire grilled Artic Char, stuffed shrimp, and a lobster roll that was basically chunks of lobster with a little mayo mix shmeared on a better then average roll at Legal Seafoods at Longwarf. (I know, we are such tourists, aren’t we sometimes?)

On NYE itself, we went to Trattoria il Panino for eggplant parm, linguini with calms, and outstanding tortellini in pesto. For desert, we got pastries at Mikes Pastry. The chocolate mousse filled cannolis YUMMM...

You folks are lucky to still have such a large and vibrant Little Italy in the North End.

Hadnt been to Beantown in quite awhile. Will have to return in warm weather.

jayseadee wrote: Didn't know that Downtown Crossing was now the Ladder District - I don't get down there much now that both Filene's and Jordan Marsh are gone.

I had no idea either. Their website said that so I asked him where exactly they were and he told me by the old Filene's Basement and I said, oh you mean Downtown Crossing? He hesitated and then said, "well, yes"

I'm glad you guys had fun! I've not been to Ivy yet, and have not been to Tratatorria or Picola Venezia for years. We don't eat out as much as we used to. I like cooking too much!

I'm watching Giada's weekend getaway in Boston and she went to Great Bay, the Flour bakery, Oleana (Cambridge I think), and Sonsie where she had brick oven pizza.