The Melting Pot

Since it is food week, and I had already missed out on one food outing, I was pretty excited to be able to go to the Melting Pot on a "double date" night with some friends. I hadn't heard too much about it before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. First impressions weren't much, as it looked like many other nice, sit down, chain restaurants. However, that is where the similarities with other chain restaurants I have been to ends. The whole concept of a multiple course meal of fondue creates for a unique and interactive experience.

Spinach Mushroom Salad

House Salad

We all chose to do the four course option, which consisted of a salad, cheese fondue, entree and dessert. Between the four of us, we ordered two house salads (Crisp romaine and iceberg lettuce, cheddar cheese, fresh tomatoes, crispy croutons and sliced egg with your choice of Peppercorn Ranch Dressing or our sweet and tangy House Dressing), a California Salad (Mixed-baby-salad greens, Roma tomatoes, walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese with Raspberry Blacs Walnut Vinaigrette), and a spinach mushroom salad
(Fresh spinach, baby Portobello mushrooms, red onion, chopped bacon and Roma tomatoes with a warm Burgundy Shallot Vinaigrette). I had the spinach mushroom salad, which was excellent. One of the better salads I have ever had.

3 types of stuffed olives for the girl's drinks

Fiesta cheese fondue

For the cheese fondue course, we selected the fiesta cheese fondue (Cheddar cheese with lager beer, jalapeño peppers, and salsa; tailored to the heat level you want), which was very good. It was pretty spicy, which was what all of us wanted, and there were chips, bread, apple pieces, and assorted veggies to dip into the fondue.

Coq au vin

Mojo

For the entree course, we chose two different cooking styles. The first was Coq au Vin (fresh herbs, mushrooms, garlic, spices and burgundy wine) and the other was Mojo (Caribbean-seasoned bouillon with fresh-garlic and  citrus). Basically, they heat each one at your table, and you cook the meat in whichever one you want, and then dip them in one of the sauces. We got two plates of meat, which included tiger shrimp, seasoned choice angus sirloin, and herb-crusted chicken breast. There were several sauces, such as the curry, teriyaki glaze, ginger plum and the green goddess ( cream cheese, sour cream, onions, chives and parsley that is great on vegetables and makes an excellent stuffed mushroom). I especially liked the ginger plum and teriyaki with the chicken. The meat had very good flavor from the fondue cooking style, plus the sauces added a lot to it.

In progress

It didn't seem like a ton of meat initially, and maybe its just that this cooking style forces you to eat a little slower, but we were all getting pretty full by the time we finished. But we still had some work to do, as our fourth course, and say may argue, the most important course, had yet to start.

It was a very tough choice (as there are 12 options), but we finally selected the Chocolate S'mores (milk chocolate topped with marshmallow cream, flambeed and garnished with graham cracker pieces) and the flaming turtle (Milk chocolate, caramel and chopped pecans flambéed tableside). Wow. Haven't had so much chocolate in quite awhile. Each couple recieved a plate with fresh strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, Rice Krispies Treats®, marshmallows, pound cake and brownies for you to dip into any of our decadent chocolate-fondue creations. They were all excellent, but overall, the brownies and cheesecake seemed to get the most votes for our favorites.

Banana and chocolate

Brownie overload

We all had a great time hanging out and trying some unique food. It is a fun thing to try, as not only are you getting good food, but the whole process is very interactive, as you make everything however you want to. It would typically be a pretty steep meal price wise, but since it was food week, it was pretty reasonable, especially considering it was a full four course meal. Really something pretty neat that we would recommend people try if they get the chance.