Ivo and Lulu

We were going to a cocktail benefit this past Saturday night for the Arnold P. Gold Foundation.  Our good friend was chairing the benefit.  The gala was being held at the Fireman’s Museum on Spring Street.  The space is pretty interesting.  All of the history is downstairs and the event space is upstairs.  I liked it.  I believe each one of our kids had been there at one point through a school trip.

We decided to find somewhere near for dinner after cocktails.  The event ran from 8-12 but we decided to go early and have dinner around 9:30.  My husband came up with the place.  What a great find!

Ivo and Lulu is a small place on Broome Street between Varick and 6th Avenue.  BYOB.  So, we stopped by the restaurant with our bottle of wine, put our names on the list and then headed over to the event.  We came back about one hour and a half later and we were almost top of the list.  Couldn’t have been more perfect. 

The restaurant consists of about 24 seats.  Long and small.  It is open from 6-11 or 6-10 depending on the day.  The food is french caribbean.  Everything has a good kick.  We started with a yellow apple roasted with camenbert that was very good.  We also split for starters smoked mussels in butter and cilantro.  Warm, rich and a great bread dipper.  We decided on duck for the main course.  There was a duck special with peppers and papaya and another duck on the menu of mango and spices.  Both were really good.  The portions are small but really the right amount. 

I’d say we were the oldest people in there by far, but it was a wonderful little place.  The whole bill (we opted against dessert) came to $41.  Cash only.  I felt like we were 20 again and living in the East Village.  It was great.

I would absolutely go back again but try to go during the week when there is probably not as long of a wait.  Since we dropped our stuff off early and our name, we were good but other people were told the wait would be about an hour.  I give the owner credit.  The tables turn quick, the food is consistent and the place can’t be bigger than 300 square feet.  Sweet spot.