A Hot Spot for Dinner!

This year, for our Anniversary, Anthony and I headed downtown to The Melting Pot. Yes, I know The Melting Pot is a chain restaurant, and is therefore barred from the Fine Dining label, but I think they deserve the title, at least honorarily.

The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant—it’s not for the germ-o-phobe who is afraid of sharing food, but for the less squeamish, it’s a culinary adventure. The restaurant is in an elegant plaza near fancy boutiques and other upscale restaurants. Inside, the restaurant is dark and quiet, simply but gracefully decorated. The dining room isn’t an open area full of tables. Instead, private, high-walled booths are arranged in a maze of hallways, perfect for intimate dining.

A cook top is built into the center of each table. Controls on the end of the table allow the server to turn it on or off or change the temperature to accommodate different kinds of fondue.

We decided to try the Fondue Feast, which included a cheese fondue, a salad, a main-course fondue, and a dessert fondue. Most of the courses were prepared tableside. The server brought out a metal pot and added the ingredients, explaining the fondue recipe and cooking recommendations for the various dippers as he stirred the concoctions and brought them to the perfect temperature.

We started with the Cheddar Cheese appetizer fondue, which was served with a few different types of bread, celery, carrots, and Granny Smith apples. The tart/sweet apples made the most flavorful combination with the dip—they were quite tasty. The cheddar was good, but not as good as the Spinach Artichoke Cheese fondue that we had on a previous visit.

For our entree, we selected the Coq au Vin, a broth with herbs, mushrooms, garlic, spices, and burgundy wine. This fondue was served with variously marinated cuts of beef, shrimp, pork, chicken, stuffed pasta, and vegetables. We were also provided about six different sauces to enjoy with the cooked bits. The broth was a nice change from the traditional Bourguignon, an oil-based fondue. The oil-based fondue is tasty but much heavier, so you get full long before you’ve had a chance to sample everything.

Finally, we enjoyed the seasonal special dessert fondue—dark chocolate raspberry. This was served with strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, pound cake, brownies, and marshmallows. It was rich, with a slight tang from the raspberries, and I think it would have been better with some fresh raspberries to dip, but next time I’ll probably go back to a pure chocolate. I like a lot of flavor, but even my taste buds can get overwhelmed sometimes.

If you’re interested in trying something different, check out The Melting Pot. Once you get past the annoying music on the home page, you can find a location, make a reservation, and check out their tantalizing menu. When you go, be sure to plan on spending a few hours—it takes a long time to cook all that food one bite at a time, but it’s worth it!