Inside: The Melting Pot, Duluth

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Getting a little closer is easy to do at the Melting Pot. You can learn a lot about a person over fondue. First and foremost, you learn if they are fun and flexible because you have to be to do this in the first place. If it’s a couple outing, you might just learn how creative a person truly is. Whatever the occasion, dining at the Melting Pot is great insurance that there’s never a dull moment.

History:  Launched in 1975 in Maitland, Florida, now an Orlando suburb, the Melting Pot cashed in on the fondue craze early. After a couple of more successful restaurants in other Florida cities, franchising became a consideration in 1985. By the next year, The Melting Pot hit the road in earnest. The Melting Pot in Duluth joined the party 18 years ago and is still going strong.

Atmosphere: Comfortably cozy, the Melting Pot in Duluth has a worn charm. It’s not brand spanking new. Instead, it looks like a neighborhood haunt, somewhere tried and true that never disappoints. Wood is a major theme and the booths are designed to be intimate. Although it’s located in a strip mall, it doesn’t feel that way once you get inside. Intimacy is the order of the day and the Melting Pot oozes loads of it.

The Goods: Okay it’s fondue, so you do know that means you cook your own food, right? Imagine the genius of getting people to leave their houses and pay to cook their own food. With couples and good friends, this is usually a very fun experience. Cheese fondue usually kicks it off. Salad is also an option before getting down to the nitty gritty.

Entrée choices can get confusing so listen to your server. They are usually very knowledgeable and serve as guides. Also they give you your own color-coded forks to best cook your food and offer helpful instructions about keeping you safe from raw meat. Remember you are the chef.

There are a bevy of choices. The vegetarian, individually priced at $19, contains tofu, along with fresh veggies, spinach, ravioli and other good-for-you goodies. Pure seafood offerings, as well as a mixture of the two, are also plentiful. If you’re just feeling chicken, for instance, you might opt for the seasoned breast of chicken, individually priced at $20. Whatever you’re feeling, the Melting Pot can usually accommodate it. The land & sea ($22), for example, is sirloin, chicken and white shrimp. You can also choose a cooking style such as coq au vin, which is fresh herbs, mushrooms, garlic, spices and burgundy wine, or mojo style, which is Caribbean flavored, for an additional $6.

Dessert selections can be the most fun. Who doesn’t like dipping strawberries, marshmallows, pound cake and other sweet nibbles into, say, flaming turtle, which is milk chocolate, caramel and chopped pecans flambéed tableside? Not many people will argue with a Baileys Irish Cream dream or the Disaronno meltdown. You can go small at $15 or supersize it for $30.

Drinks: There’s more to the Melting Pot experience than food. Drink specialties like the yin & yang, made with Godiva white chocolate liqueur, Stoli vanil vodka and vanilla ice cream and chocolate shavings, taste even better than they look and that’s a huge feat. Just because they do fondue doesn’t mean that they don’t know wine. The wine list is exhaustive. If you can’t find one, it’s you.

Helpful Tips: If it’s just the two of you, there are three-course meal choices known as entrees for two like the signature selection, filet mignon, shrimp, teriyaki-marinated sirloin, chicken and fish fillet, for $52 or big night out selections such as the lobster indulgence, twin lobster tails, jerk-seasoned sirloin, vanilla rum chicken, marinated pork tenderloin, peppered shrimp, butternut squash ravioli and fresh vegetables, for $96 a couple. No it’s not cheap, but it is popular. So for special occasions, make a reservation.

Enjoy the Melting Pot in Duluth on Sunday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.

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