It’s no secret Addison is changing and growing. With more development happening and restaurants moving in, Ivy Kitchen was one of many that has piqued my interest.
Ivy Kitchen moved into the former Nick and Sam’s Grill space at Look Cinema and opened in November. Look Cinema is one of my favorite places for a nice dinner and movie date, so I was looking forward to my visit to the new Ivy Kitchen.
The Foooooood:
Started with the crab cake and they are amazing. There isn’t much filler and the meat was sweet and delicious. I couldn’t get enough. They have this as an appetizer and an entree.
Crab cake
Next, I ordered some items from the sushi menu. I’m always skeptical of American restaurants that offer Japanese food, but thought I’d give it a try. The waiter told me the cuisine is American with Japanese influences and is the only restaurant in Addison with a raw bar.
First I had the the spicy octopus handroll. I think octopus can be flavorless unless it’s fried, so it was no surprised that the octopus was overpowered by the creamy mayo. It had tempura flakes and diced bell peppers in the mix too. Definitely American-Japanese.
Spicy octopus hand roll
The tuna and hamachi (yellowtail) roll was also slightly disappointing. At $16 for this roll, I wasn’t really impressed. The fish tasted dry and surprisingly didn’t have a lot of flavor. While the presentation was simple and beautiful, I’d skip this next time. I did appreciate our server suggesting that we not drench the roll in soy sauce. It’s a common misconception to drench sushi is soy sauce and I always cringe when I see people do this. I’m glad there is an appreciation for the natural flavors of the fish.
Tuna and Yellowtail roll
Tuna and Yellowtail roll
On to our entree portion of the night. I had the grilled Idaho trout which came with a generous portion of lump crab on top and drenched in a lemon butter sauce. The portion sizes are large, which left me with barely any room for dessert. Food coma to come…
The trout itself was lacking in flavor, but was saved by the delicious crab and lemon butter atop. Each bite of trout, crab and mashed potatoes collectively wasn’t bad at all.
Grilled Idaho trout with lump crab and mashed potatoes.
My guest opted for the grilled pork chops that came with a fuji apple sauce, roasted mushrooms and mashed potatoes. The pork chops had these beautiful grill marks and definitely looks amazing. The portion was also generous. I tried the pork chop alone and with the fuji applesauce and liked them both ways. It was juicy and cooked through. Closer toward the center, it was slightly overcooked and a bit dry. The outer edges that weren’t overcooked, were indeed juicy and delicious. I’m glad they put the sauce to the side.
Gilled pork chops
Look at those gorgeous grill mark
Dessert was heavenly. We enjoyed mochi ice cream from Bubbies Mochi – a gourmet ice cream and dessert company based in Hawaii. If you don’t know what mochi is, it is a Japanese chewy rice cake dessert sometimes filled with ice cream. At Ivy Kitchen, we had pistachio, white chocolate raspberry and mango. They were all fabulous. Typically for mochi, the outer layer tends to be really thick and therefore making it harder to chew through to the ice cream. The thin layer of mochi with the deliciously flavored ice cream was amazing. You could truly taste the pistachio, mango and raspberry. I wish I had room for more.
Overall the food was decent. There were some winners for sure and also a few forgettables. Service was excellent and our server was very knowledgable about the menu. There wasn’t a drastic change to the layout of the restaurant other than some cosmetic changes compared to Nick and Sam’s Grill. Parking is plentiful and valet is an option. Pricing is in the $12-$30 range. As a new restaurant, I think there are some things to hammer out as far as some menu items go. It’s hard to rate the food when there isn’t consistency in quality and taste. It’s kind of all over the place. Some are great and others are underwhelming. Personally, I think it’s hard to stand out as an American restaurant that offers sushi. But that might be my own personal Asian bias. I have tend to have higher expectations since I’ve worked in a sushi restaurant before. It’s going to take more than what is currently offered to beat out other Japanese restaurants and be known for sushi. I’d recommend skipping the sushi and trying anything else on the menu. Definitely lots of other promising options.
In order to write this review, Deep Fried Fit was invited to dine at Ivy Kitchen and the meal was comped. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
