Towson can boast being home to the world's best-tasting upscale chain restaurant: The Melting Pot, A Fondue Restaurant.
Be hungry when you go. To correctly eat at The Melting Pot, one must be prepared to partake of a four course meal. While each individual course is offered a la carte, to get the true effect, select the "Fondue for Two" menu choice, which includes everything you need.
The first course of the meal is a small dinner salad, designed simply to wet one's tastebuds. Recommended are the Mushroom salad, a variety of fine mushrooms sliced and served over a bed of lettuce, and the California salad, a lettuce, walnuts and gorgonzola cheese mix, served with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.
Upon completion of the salads, a cheese fondue is served. For those of you unfamiliar with the cheese fondue process, it is as follows. A large pot is brought to your table. It is first filled with beer base, which is then mixed with cheese and spices of your choosing. Once the cheese is completely hot and melted, you are given dipping items. Dipping items include various grains of bread, apples, celery and other fruits and vegetables. Place a dipping item on the skewer provided, smother the item in cheese, and eat.
The cheese fondue is followed by the main course: various meats, fishes and poultry provided for your cooking pleasure in a bullion or oil base. Similarly to the cheese course, a pot is filled with either oil or bullion and heated. Once it reaches the proper temperature, your served will bring over a plate with the cooking items. In general, this includes two forms of steak, shrimp, chicken and a fish. As well, it is served with an unlimited supply of vegetables to cook, and at least nine types of sauces. Cooking instructions and times are provided, but in general, skewer the food, and leave it in the base until it is well cooked. Once the item is finished, dip it in one of the various sauces, and eat.
Personal favorites include the green gaudice, a cream cheese and chive-based sauce, the teriyaki sauce and barbecue sauce. It is a good idea to cook at least two pieces at a time, as they take a couple of minutes to fully cook. I would recommended the selection of a bullion base, for two reasons. First, the fish and meat simply taste better. Second, as one of my friends discovered, after it has finished cooking, the bullion itself is worth tasting. Give it a try.
Chocolate fondue is the final course. There is little more that can be said about dessert, other than that it is a vat of hot milk, white or dark chocolate mixed with your favorite liquor and topped with nuts. Pound cake, strawberries, cheesecake, bananas and other fruits are provided for dipping. Chocolate fondue is reason enough to eat at the Melting Pot.
There is little comparable to a dining experience at the Melting Pot. Be prepared for dinner to take two hours, especially if you select all four courses. The atmosphere is very pleasant, with mood lighting, wooden seats and nice background music. If you are looking for a nice anniversary meal, or simply are feeling rich and want to impress your significant other, this is the place to do it. Expect a full meal, including drinks, to run approximately $70 for two people. Very few meals are worth $70, but this is certainly one of them.
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