i melt with you
march 19, 2006
S and Sriracha wanted to go try the melting pot in pasadena after i saw pictures of it on my friend's flickr and was ranting on about wanting to try it. so we decided to make reservations last night at 6:30pm for an early dinner. the two new moms deserved some much needed time away from their new roles and to enjoy an evening of food and girltalk! both were so sweet to treat me for a belated birthday dinner as well. they also were so generous to give me a gift certificate to best buy a couple weeks ago to pay for a new canon telephoto lens (that i haven't used yet). i'm a lucky girl i tell ya! i have such great friends who have been there for me thru everything.
^ new moms on a GNO mission to eat and gab!
^ le appetizer - the spinach artichoke cheese fondue served with raw vegetables,
cubed green apples and chunks of bread for dipping.
we were pretty ravenous by the time we got there and quickly decided on the BIG NIGHT OUT dinner. it will give us a great assortment of their signature items to try out. but we still needed to make certain choices for the dinner such as the cooking broth, which cheese fondue for the starter, 3 types of starter salads to choose from and the dessert fondue of choice. man, that's a lot of thinking for 3 hungry women.
we didn't touch much of the bread and instead focused on the veggies and apples. but i tell ya, if you're lactose intolerant, this cheese fondue isn't for you. i found it easy to handle though without having the need for lactaid. :p
the apples were *so* good with the cheese fondue. and we were all supplied with color coded fondue forks/spears to keep track of whose food is whose. i had the red pair (see 1st photo above). the best part is you eat at your own pace and we talked in a really cozy, intimate setting. but damn, i must have gotten one of the darkest booths in the place and it was so hard taking the photos in low lighting. :\
since there were 3 of us, we opted for 1 of the "feast of roses" selection under the BIG NIGHT OUT dinner set. this is mainly seafood and raviolis.
we got 2 portions of the "pasadena premiere". this is mainly meats, seafood and ravioli. we never did eat any of the raviolis though and focused on all the meats and the dumplings. :p it had several cuts of beef, ahi grade tuna, chicken, lobster tail etc.
for the main entree, we selected the coq au vin cooking broth. it was a nice wine infused broth with mushrooms & herbs. i'm glad that my other friends who went there previously warned me about the smoke. there's a lot of steam and smoke that rises from the cooking table and into your clothes. so if you're visiting there for a meal, DO NOT wear anything you cannot throw into the wash or will get uptight at for dry cleaning.
for dessert, we went with the chocolate s'mores selection. they did a nice show with the whole flambe thing.
inside are chocolate, marshmallow creme and graham crackers to melt down before dipping your fruits and other tasty dessert items with.
after having a nice 3 hour dinner with these two fab girls, i would definitely go back for another meal. i actually would prefer going for the appetizer and dessert portion more than then entree portion though. although the meats came with a plethora of dipping sauces, it was the frenchmen's version of "hot pot". :x
all 3 of us also wondered if our husbands would actually like this type of food. i think TGILW would find it fun once a year or so but not more than that. i think men would definitely prefer korean bbq or brazilian bbq for the meat parade i tell you!
also, the dinner is not cheap. our bill probably ran $60 per person with drinks and everything when ordering the BIG NIGHT OUT dinner. they have plenty of other entrees and signature dishes too. and of course, i think you can go just for dessert and appetizers too. :)
melting pot
88 w. colorado blvd.
pasadena, ca 91105
626.792.1941
* located next to jj's steakhouse
**reservations definitely needed
currently listening to: keahiwai, over
