Grub Club: The Ivy (Finally!)

This week was the first time we had a repeat experience in grub club.  Engrish, Geek, and I decided, before even inviting anyone to join us, that it would be okay if one of our newbies chose a restaurant to which we'd already been, and I'm glad that The Ivy was our déjà vu.  See, last year I only missed one grub club, and that was when I was cheating on them with Five, Fire Marshall, and Domestic Goddess (she was making tacos!  How was I supposed to say, "No, I already have dinner plans"?), before they were invited to join us.  It got good reviews, but I never really cared enough to check it out on my own.

Well, luckily for me, Blondie decided she would, and as a result, she brought us along this Wednesday.  Engrish - who is doing a cleanse - pretended she was satisfied with her green salad, which was the same thing I started with, except hers didn't have dressing and was NOT followed by a scrumptious pasta dish.  The greens were fresh and the dressing was light - it was fantastic.

Blondie, on the other hand, went for the Ivy salad (I think it was the Ivy, anyways).  When she's not ordering a sandwich, she tends to go for a salad, and it was her delicious salad here a couple weeks back that made her decide to drag us along.  Thank goodness for salads!

This week we invited a couple more of the newbies along.  Our decision is still pending so I haven't given them call signs (ie, I haven't figured out what to call them, since I've already used PE and Lit), but one of them went for a pizza, which looked pretty incredible, while the other...

...went for the Ivy pasta, along with Geek.  Besides some luscious beef, spinach noodles, and parmesan, it had a bit of a spicy kick on the end, and since spicy stuff is my favorite stuff in the world, I was worried I'd chosen the wrong main course AGAIN.

Then my pasta arrived.  I ordered the garganelli, which had a creamy sauce with Italian sausage and mushrooms.  It. Was.  Amazing.  Each bite was better than the last, and it was probably only because I was on my bestest behavior in front of our possible inductees that I actually shared a bite with everyone (because you know how I can be).  It was so delicious and filling that I wasn't even that tempted by dessert, even though their chocolate fondant cake and cheesecake both sounded delicious.

The Ivy is about a half block west of the Circus on Seoul Street on the south side of the street, above the Ti Amo.  It's the same building as the Golomt Bank.  It's a pretty swank place, but we went in our jeans anyways, because we fly in the face of convention, and because dress codes are made for places besides Ulaanbaatar.