A "Cheesy" Night

Matthew and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary in style. We decided to do something completely different and go for fondue. I don’t how many of you have experienced fondue but let me tell you it is wonderful and a lot of fun! Our destination for the evening was a restaurant in the Brea area called “The Melting Pot”. Our reservations were for 6:30 p.m. and we arrived a little early. So to pass the time, Matthew and I walked up and down Birch Street Promenade. If it wasn’t for the fact that we actually had reservations, (I think Matthew would have headed straight into the Edwards Theater to see the advance premier of “Iron Man” that he has been talking about none stopped for weeks), never the less I managed to drag him away from the theater and we arrived at the restaurant. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by two lovely hostesses who wished us “Happy Anniversary”. We were escorted to our table where they had placed a white rose and card for us. How cool is that!

Onto the menu, the fondue experience is one that can be simply enjoyed if one can understand the menu. I was glad we had our waitress there to explain things. They have several options available to you but we eventually selected the “Big Night Out”. The Melting Pot believes the complete fondue experience should be experience in four-courses. They are very flexible in that you can pick any cheese course, salad course and dessert course and substitute them in place of what they have already selected. We began with the cheese course which they prepare for you at your table. The first course was our Caribbean Cheese Fondue which is Gouda and Gran Queso cheeses blended with garlic, sweet and spicy Peppadew peppers, topped off with scallions and a lime zest. They serve this course with refillable bowls of bread/ chips, fresh cut veggies and apples.


The second course is salad, Matthew stayed with the Caribbean theme and had the tropical salad and I chose a spinach salad.


The third course was the entrée which again is prepared for you at your table. They bring at the pot with a broth already in it and then add the seasonings depending on the cooking style you chose at the beginning. In our case we again stayed with the Caribbean theme and chose Mojo Style. For our entree we selected the Fondue Fusion which had: Lobster Tail, Filet Mignon Medallion, Jerk Seasoned Sirloin, Vanilla Rum Chicken, Marinated Pork Tenderloin, Zesty Pepper Shrimp, Butternut Squash Ravioli and Fresh Vegetables. You cook everything in the pot at your leisure and then dip into the 8 different sauces they bring. Everything was a tasted wonderful and we saved the Lobster for last.


The final course is the chocolate fondue. You may choose your own chocolate creation or one of the nine that they have created. We selected the flaming turtle with dark chocolate. It is served with strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, rice krispy treats, brownie bites, pound cake bites and cheese cake bites. The whole thing was heavenly! The only bad thing is that it came to an end!


The evening was a lovely experience but I think Matthew and I would both say that the four course experience is simply too much. We were both so full by the end! Next time we go it will be just for the cheese fondue or chocolate fondue experience!

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