The Ivy

Located on Robertson Blvd in Los Angeles and known for it's picket fence, The Ivy Restaurant has long been known as the place to see and be seen for lunch.  Paparazzi often hang out around The Ivy hoping to snag a photo of a celebrity lunching at the popular hangout.  On my recent trip to LA,  I had the pleasure of dining at The Ivy with my friends. 

The interior is a series of cottage style rooms which instantly reminded me of my friend Jason Oliver Nixon of Madcap Cottage.  It was an Alice in Wonderland meets Mackenzie Childs-esque whimsical feeling decor. ~ In other words, the interior made you feel happy! 

There is something so appealing about a "collected" interior to me.  It was also inspiring to be  surrounded by beautiful fresh flowers and wonderful to have a glass of champagne offered the minute we graced the door. 

I adore blue and white plates especially when on bright yellow walls.  
The Ivy had quite the collection of plates, baskets and all sorts of interesting things.

You felt as though you were visiting in an old friend's cottage for lunch.

There were so many cozy corners to chose from and a fire blazing in the fireplace.

I popped upstairs with the excuse that I wanted to go to the ladies room when

actually it was just to be noisy.  I found more happy!  The slightly pink walls
 were dressed in framed memorabilia and artifacts. 

Cute little corner for making phone calls away from the noise of the restaurant.

Once I made my way downstairs, it was time for us to sit at our table. 

Where to sit, would it be this quaint little outside area?  (We had requested outside)

Nope...actually better, the second table was ours! Perfect!

I was surrounded by so much beauty, I couldn't decide where to rest my eyes. 
 On the table were these beautiful roses sweetly arranged in a hand painted teapot!

The tree above us was covered in colorful lights.   I'm sure at night that is magical!

Let the feast begin...First there were Bloody Marys!!!

We were served the most amazing food! Would you believe this was half of a plate?
  Holly and Felicia decided to split and once it came out they were glad they did! 

I didn't get a picture of my plate but it was ridiculous! 

Photo courtesy of Holly Phillips

There was absolutely no way we could eat all of our entrees so we ordered

 the banana split for dessert!  Yes we did!

The cast of characters....

Beautiful Felicia, whom I heard people asking when we came in, "who is she?", she is somebody isn't she? Look how pretty she is! Yes, she is somebody, she is my special friend, Felicia, designer extraordinaire.  Of course she is also a retired television anchor, so she is really somebody they may have seen on television.  I admire her so much because she had a successful career and has decided to follow her passion of interior design.

My dear friend Holly, who is a fab designer and also from Charlotte, but
 the funny part of all that is I only see her when we travel!

Holly decided it would be fun to take a picture of me taking her picture.  
Love her new malachite phone case!  She is a total trend setter!

Here is my friend Lesli, she isn't a designer but recently feature in House Beautiful which is something I haven't achieved!  She is a fab artist and blogger too.   She was quite pleased with her red velvet cake and champagne!

Who wouldn't be pleased with this cake, right?  We all had to have a taste.

Of course I had to order coffee!  It arrived in a coffee cup the size of a soup bowl!

That's my kind of coffee cup!

Back to the favorite part of the meal....

 It was a perfect day and a perfect meal, however the next time I visit The Ivy, I think I will skip the entree and go straight to the dessert!  Yeah...The Banana Split was Heaven!