Marsh and I were supposed to go out for a romantic dinner Friday night at the just-opened Melting Pot in downtown SB but due an absolute meltdown/hissy fit on her part we ending up having to cancel last minute (I would like to point out that her fit was in no way tied to me peeing in the bed and then spraying the sheets with Fabreeze the night before; the craziness was all her own doing). Anyway, we had to reschedule and the good folks at the Melting Pot were able to get us in the next night at the Grandpa-ish time of 4:45pm.
Normally I’m not 
so into food that I feel compelled to write a review but since I’m not a Swiss peasant and have never had fondue before this feels like a good idea. The first thing to notice about the Melting Pot is that it is dark. Damn dark. The restaurant is broken up into 5 different sections, most of them composed of no more than 4 intimate tables with high-backed booths so it feels like you’ve got the place pretty much to yourself, even when you don’t. Each tables comes with its own dedicated server too, which is cool. Ours was some chick named Alison or Emily or Erin or something like that who explained to us the ordering process and reminded us three times not to touch the pot or pot handle once the heat was turned on, since it was hotter than hell (in the name of science I did touch the pot handle and yes, it was hot). We ordered a four course dinner (which is pretty much standard there, you can’t really do less) and first up was a cheddar cheese blended fondue with bits of bread, apples and some carrots and coliflower. I was expecting the cheese to be more nacho-y but it was more cheddary than anything else. The best part was that Alison/Emily/Erin just stands at your table and mixes the whole thing up for you so you can see how easily you could actually just make it at your house if you wanted to.
Salads were up next and were amazing. Southwestern Cobb for myself, one of the better salads I’ve ever had. Marsh had the house which was also enjoyable.
A/E/E came to clear the cheese away and brought in a scalding pot of boullion and a tray of raw meats, along with 8 dipping sauces. Our entree consisted of shrimp, chicken, filent mingnon, teriyaki steak and salmon; enough for about 3 or 4 pieces for each of us–she said cooking times would be about 90 seconds for the seafood and two minutes for the beef and chicken. Marsh and I have a well documented (ok, it’s actually not documented) affinity for seafood so we both threw some shrimp in first, followed by salmon and some potatoes, broccoli and mushrooms. One of the dipping sauces was an angrily spiced cocktail sauce which was amazing with the shrimp, the other standouts were the teriyaki sauce with both the beef and the mushrooms and a thai yogurt concoction that was good with everything. We dominated the entire tray of food with the exception of the last slice of salmon which I think both of us thought was the least appealing of the various meats.
Lastly our desert was some sort of chocolate smore business which was so good I actually had visions of taking it home and making sweet, sweet love to it. The marshmellows covered in crushed Oreos and strawberries smothered in warm chocolate sent me into a food coma right at the table but Marsh was able to jam some cheesecake down my throat while I sat there waiting for the bill. At $125 after tip it was a pricey dinner (actually I think the most I have ever spent for only two people now that I think about it) but a very good one nevertheless. At just about two hours it is a significant time commitment so this is *not* the place to go if you’re pressed for time but makes a great date night. Or date late-afternoon in our case. Thumbs up.
