Ivy Restaurant Wheaton Family Holiday Dinner

Gala Family Holiday Dinner at Ivy Restaurant Wheaton Features BYOB Clark-Claudon Estate Napa Cabernet

For our annual gala family holiday dinner, this year we dined at Ivy Restaurant in Wheaton. We arranged to dine at the balcony table overlooking the restaurant. Ivy, named for the ivy covered exterior walls overlooking the garden dining terrace, is housed in a historic building that was built as a chapel in 1928. The main dining room features stained glass windows and the commanding cathedral ceiling preserved from the original site.

The balcony setting afforded a wonderful view overlooking the restaurant, while providing ample room for our extended group including five grandchildren. It allowed a relaxed casual setting with room to roam for the small children without disturbing other diners.

We ordered the rib-eye steaks, filet medallions, the Chilean Sea Bass special, the Maryland Crab Cakes, the Filet of Beef, and the Filet and Shrimp entrees. The grand-kids were accommodated with appropriate choices from the kids menu.

For the appetizer course, we had the mussels and the coconut shrimp with Piper Heidsieck Brut NV (non-vintage) Champagne from the wine-list.

Ivy's corkage policy accommodated us to bring this BYOB selection from our cellar, Clark-Claudon Estate Napa Cabernet 2000. We met and dined with Clark-Claudon proprietors Tom and Laurie during our Napa Wine Experience winemaker dinners back in 1999. For a family dinner, I felt it appropriate to open a wine from family owned and oriented wine producer.

Since then, we have acquired and still hold thirteen vintages of this Estate Cab in our cellar dating back to the 1994 inaugural release, according to our Cellartracker records. We hold several vintages in magnum including this 2000.


 Clark-Claudon Estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2000

This was a perfect accompaniment to our beef entrees and was probably at the peak of its drinking window, not likely to improve further with age, and ready to drink in its prime. Being a magnum, this likely had aged more gracefully and held its drinking window better or longer than perhaps standard size bottles. We hold several more bottles of this vintage and I don't feel rushed to consume them any time soon.

Dark garnet/purple colored, medium-full bodied, full, complex concentrated forward black berry and black raspberry and currant fruits are accented by a layer of spice, toasty oak, tones of cedar and sweet vanilla with nicely balanced acidity and smooth tannins on the lingering finish.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=436560

https://www.clarkclaudon.com/

http://piper-heidsieck.com/en/

http://www.ivyofwheaton.com/ 

Kathryn Hall Sacrashe Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 1999

Kathryn Hall Sacrashe Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 1999 for Ivy Wheaton Christmas/Birthday Dinner

For our annual dinner outing taking friend Marlene U out to celebrate her birthday and the Christmas season, we dined at Ivy Restaurant in Wheaton, IL. We took BYOB this Kathryn Hall Sacrashe Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. It was a perfect complement to my Rib-eye steak, Linda's petit filet, and Marlene's BBQ ribs. Kathy served us and provided attentive friendly service.

We dined in the side-room overlooking the courtyard (shown below) which was a picture postcard with the heavy falling snow. While its not as picturesque as the main dining room, which is actually the sanctuary of a historic church (shown left), complete with stain glass windows, it's more intimate and quieter, as the sanctuary main dining room tends to be rather noisy, even bordering on boisterous.

For the second time in a row, my Ivy steak entree was laced with Rosemary which I do not favor. Otherwise, our dinners were delightful.

A really cool and interesting part of the Ivy dining experience was their illuminated menus - a great feature in a darkened restaurant. See their illumination in the lower center of the picture above.

Kathryn Hall Napa Valley Sacrashe Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 1999

This single vineyard designated wine predates the Kathryn label becoming the signature flagship of the Hall brand. This label's demise can perhaps be explained by their expansion to a broad portfolio of labels, many small production boutique or individual labels,  extending the Sacrashe Vineyard fruit more broadly across the brand line-up. The Sacrashe Vineyard (shown right) sits just above the Winery on the estate which lies near the Napa Auberge du Soleil Relaix a Chateau Resort.

We visited the Hall Rutherford estate winery with its magnificent caves art gallery, cellar and tasting room (shown left) during our Napa Wine Experience in 2013.

Its time to drink up this vintage label as its showing it age, revealing its true profile and character, but still drinking nicely. Dark garnet colored, medium bodied, the black cherry and black berry fruits are starting to give way to black olive, leather, tobacco leaf and hints of tar and anise, with smooth soft tannins. This is a blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Merlot.

RM 87 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=610687

http://www.hallwines.com/

http://www.ivyofwheaton.com/

Ivy Restaurant - Wheaton, Illinois - Wine & Dine Experience

Ivy Restaurant - Wheaton, Illinois - Wine & Dine Experience

We've been wanting to dine in this location for many years in light of its unique setting in a historic building originally built as a chapel complete with stained glass windows and cathedral ceiling. Several different restaurants have come and gone at this site despite its prime location in the center of trendy downtown Wheaton, Illinois.

There is some irony that the Ivy Restaurant website homepage prominently features Martini Night given that Wheaton was a 'dry' town for so many years. They also offer a half-price wine night on Tuesday's which is always a worthwhile endeavor and practice worth supporting.


While they feature their dinner and dessert menus, I could not find a wine list on their website so I called to inquire about their corkage policy which is $20 per bottle. Alas, having selected a favorite entree, Gorgonzola encrusted New York strip steak, I set upon the wine cellar for a fitting pairing. We also invited friends Mark & Shirley to join us and knowing Shirley loves Cabernet Franc the stage was set for a cab franc stand-off showcasing a vintage favorite aside a premier new discovery offering from our recent Napa Valley wine experience.

My cellar search discovered two bottles remaining from a case of Del Dotto Napa Valley Cabernet Franc 1997, and an as yet untouched case just received and racked last week of Constant Diamond Mountain Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2007.

I advised the server we were doing a wine tasting pairing and inquired further about the featured selections. Per the menu, the steak was accompanied by Ivy House Potatoes. Advised that they were roasted in garlic I opted for the Ivy Whipped Potatoes. Mark ordered a Special du jour Braised Veal Shank served with roasted potatoes, fresh seasonal vegetables. Both ladies ordered the special feature du jour Sea Bass with cous cous.

For starters we ordered the Chorizo Stuffed Dates - wrapped with applewood bacon, baby arugula with smoked tomato sauce, Almond Encrusted Brie, and Prince Edward Island Mussels sauteed with shallots, garlic, bacon, cream, fresh thyme in a white wine broth served with toast points.

Since I was focused on the wine tasting/pairing, I avoided the mussels sauteed in garlic. The brie cheese on the toast points was a nice but uninspiring accompaniment. The others cited the mussels as being less than stellar appearing to be not as fresh as they might be.

The stuffed dates were very tasty and a perfect accompaniment to the wines - especially the bright, vibrant 2007 Constant -so much so we ordered a second round. The dates were very tasty despite the fact the smoked tomato sauce added nothing, in my mind at least.

The anticipation of the wine/entree pairings was heightened. The New York strip arrived smothered with a crusted Gorgonzola which normally I love. Unfortunately, it was so laced with Thyme, there was no sense of the Gorgonzola whatsoever, let alone the beef. I am not a fan of Thyme, which normally I would associate with poultry and Thanksgiving turkey dressing. The affect on the beef was very unappealing. Worse, the whipped potatoes were laced with garlic. By this point any hope of a comparison tasting of the Cabernet Francs was lost.

The Sea Bass was also a bit disappointing, being less than stellar fresh, and the cous cous appeared to look more like risotto. Unfortunately, the dinners were also loaded with salt so as to take away from the tasting experience. We couldn't get enough water.

The saving grace of the evening, beside the stuffed dates, was Mark's entree the braised veal shank which he enjoyed very much.

We finished with the creme brulee which was very good.

The restaurant wine-list was basically American, appeared to predominate with California complete with a range of offerings up to Silver Oak Alexander Valley at $128 and Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet at $150 - no vintages listed.  Had it been listed on-line, I would have planned accordingly as there appeared to be one or two selections I would have explored. I appreciate and was grateful for their fair and appropriate corkage policy - indeed, it provided the basis for our visit.

Napa Valley Cabernet Franc tasting -
Constant Diamond Mountain 2007, Del Dotto Napa Valley 1997

Our wine tasting/comparison was outstanding, up to the point of being overpowered by the smothering spice, garlic and salt. The Del Dotto Napa Valley Cabernet Franc 1997 was opaque garnet colored, medium bodied and opened with a earthy leather revealing its age, turning to black cherry, spice and a hint of tobacco (RM 90, WS 91 points). The Constant Diamond Mountain Cabernet Franc 2007 was inky dark purple color, full bodied, dense and concentrated with complex forward, chewy black berry fruits, spice, with long lingering silky tannins (RM 93-94, RP 93-94 points).

We visited Constant Vineyard and Winery just last month during our Diamond Mountain Wine Experience as featured on this blog. Del Dotto are long favorites as were featured during our Napa Valley Wine Experiences several times in 1998, 1999, and 2003 as showcased on our featured producers on www.unwindwine.com.

The restaurant is very picturesque with a very nice setting including an outdoor seating area adjoining the ivy colored building - hence the restaurant name. The ambiance upon entry is a bit confusing as the elegance is a bit undermined by the sports-bar feel with the big screens featuring sports in the bar adjacent to the entry.

We were seated promptly, reasonable to expect for a 6:30 seating with reservations. There is a stylish side dining room surrounded by windows and accessed  through french doors off the main dining room. The main dining room has the high cathedral ceilings with a surrounding second floor balcony overlooking the main floor. At the head of the room is a large massive stone fireplace. Seating is tight with three columns of tables down the center and sides of the 'sanctuary', one sidewall having window views to an adjoining courtyard, the opposite side against a bench seat under an alcove looking out into the main hall.

The service was attentive and friendly albeit lacking in detail to properly describe the nature of the food preparations given our stated sensitivity to wine suitable. Moreover, the menu descriptions failed to mention the spices and garlic which might have been acceptable had they not been so predominate (overwhelming). Upon our frank expression of dissatisfaction, the chef did come out and discuss our concerns, defending the preparation and noting its popularity and lack of previous complaints. I can't imagine other diner's finding this preparation acceptable. We offered up our oft-visited Angeli's Restaurant in Naperville as a splendid example of fabulous Gorgonzola feature entree's. We should've also mentioned Angeli's superb mussels offering as well as it is also spectacular and superior to the Ivy Restaurant feature.We were offered the entree be removed from the bill but believe this did not happen given its hard to imagine how the bill could be $250 (plus the $50 tip).

All in all our experience was disappointing and regrettably we will not likely return soon to or recommend Ivy Restaurant in Wheaton. 

http://www.ivyofwheaton.com/
120 N Hale St
Wheaton, IL 60187-5113
(630) 665-2489