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The Melting Pot: Fondue place stirs the pot

By Howard M. Snyder hsnyder@herald-leader.com

Fondue has had its ups and downs in this country. From the mid-1960s into the 1970s, a fondue pot was the wedding gift of choice. A bride could gauge her popularity by the number of fondue sets she received. But the trend waned in the United States, and fondue was history.

It never fell out of favor in Europe, though, where it is as popular as ever. Now fondue is making a comeback in the United States. New restaurants dedicated to fondue are opening up all over the place. The Melting Pot, possibly the only chain restaurant dedicated to fondue, just opened in The Plaza at Fayette Mall. Like all new restaurants in Lexington, it's wildly popular.

I was expecting tie-dye and Incense and Peppermints playing in the background, but no such luck. The Melting Pot — part of a chain of more than 100 restaurants based in Tampa, Fla. — is a chic and stylized restaurant with dark, charcoal or slate gray walls. Each table had a sleek black-glass induction cooktop built in.

At The Melting Pot, the menu is dedicated to three things: fondue (a variety of ways), salads (five kinds) and entrees that go with fondue. Desserts were a variety of chocolate fondue.

There are many options for the four components of what The Melting Pot calls ”Big Night Out“: cheese fondue, salad, entree and chocolate fondue dessert. While there were some very pricey options for two (surf and turf for $75), we selected the single options and split them. It was enough and less expensive.

For our appetizer, my companion and I selected the traditional Swiss cheese fondue ($15). It was delicious. Our server put a fondue pot on the cooktop and poured a pre-measured amount of white wine into it. She adjusted the heat, and the pot began to steam almost immediately. Induction is amazing. She added Gruyère and Emmenthaler to the wine, along with garlic, nutmeg and kirschwasser, or cherry brandy, and stirred it. We took these long, sharp forks — not child-proof, so leave the kids at home, honey — and speared chunks of bread, vegetables and apples, and dipped them into the hot cheese mix. Ambrosia. We could have dipped all night.

Our entree was another option. We picked ”The French Quarter“ ($20), a plate of shrimp, filet mignon, chicken and andouille sausage. A salad came with that, which we split.

The ”California salad“ was a nice mix of fresh baby greens and Gorgonzola cheese and tossed with a sweet-tart raspberry-black walnut dressing. There was a little too much dressing for my taste, but the blend of raspberry and Gorgonzola — the sweet and the savory — was delicious.

There were different cooking options or styles for the entrees — either oil for frying, wine for simmering, bouillon for boiling — at the table. For our French Quarter entree, our server suggested fondue bourguignonne, the European style of cooking in oil. A gentleman brought the pot of oil covered by a spill guard that looked like the head clamp from a torture device. He set it on the table and unscrewed some locking mechanism, which released the top and he put it on the cooktop.

Here is the tricky part. We had to cook our bits of chicken, beef, shrimp and sausage. If you're not watching — engrossed in chat, maybe ­— you'll set the house on fire. Our server prescribed a certain amount of time for the chicken, which we followed. At first, it was undercooked, then we overcooked it.

The chicken, shrimp and beef were Cajun-seasoned. Two batters (one for making tempura) were brought to the table for dipping before frying. Dipping sauces — curry, a sweet chili sauce and a teriyaki sauce — were provided for after frying. We overcooked most of it, but that was our fault.

But everything was tasty and, in a way, fun. The gentleman with the spill guard/head clamp came back to our table and had a bit of trouble locking the lid down on our pot of oil (it was like he was preparing someone for execution) and then whisked it away.

For dessert: fondue. But we ordered the bananas Foster fondue ($15 for a small, $30 for a large). It wasn't the traditional bananas Foster, but it was still devilish. A pot of white chocolate with sliced bananas was brought to our table. A platter of more bananas, strawberries, marshmallows, toasted marshmallows and brownies was provided for spearing and dipping. It was sinful and heaven.

Service was, for the most part, very good. One foible: One server took our order, then another server came to take our order again, but that's to be expected in a new restaurant.

Dinner for two, including two glasses of wine ($7 a glass) and one beer ($6) was $73.