catching up: fun do

Jeff’s already written about our fondue date on the 29th of September, at the Melting Pot restaurant in Larkspur, the occasion both of that location’s first anniversary and a fundraiser for UCSF Children’s Hospital. I’d never before eaten at a Melting Pot, though I’d always wanted to, so for a good cause we made it happen. We really splurged, going for the multi-course (cheese fondue, salad, entree fondue, and chocolate fondue) prix fixe “Big Night Out” special, priced by the couple.

We started with the gran queso cheese fondue, with apples, bread and vegetables for dipping. This was followed by the salad course—caesar for Jeff, and strawberry almond for me. Next was the “Fondue Feast” entree, in a coq au vin cooking sauce; we had filet milon medallions, teriyaki steak, black tiger shrimp, citrus-marinated pord tenderloin, breast of chicken, and large vegetable ravioli. After a resting period to let some of that feast digest, we finished with a dark chocolate, caramel and pecan fondue flambe, with fruit, brownies, marshmallows and cheesecake to dip. Heaven.

We had a wonderful, romantic, langorous experience, ably watched over by our server, Michelle (funny, incredibly personable and a near dead-ringer for actress Camryn Manheim), in a rather exotic setting: the building, a converted brick “kiln,” had labyrinthine hobbit-home corridors, curved brick walls that felt like the caves of a winery (you can see this effect in the photo on the Larkspur location web site), and one wing, where we were seated, featured “lover’s lane,” a corridor of cozy two-person booths tucked against each other in ways that provided optimal privacy for each. It was a near perfect evening, and the evening drive back into the city across the Golden Gate Bridge was lovely; I really do enjoy going up to Marin.