We ended up going to The Melting Pot beforehand, which is a fondue chain restaurant. Neither one of us have ever tried fondue before, so we were both very unsure as to what to expect. It turned out that the place is located behind the parking garage I used when taking the Bar exam. For a chain restaurant, it was significantly more upscale than I thought. We weren't out of place in our jeans, but we could have just as easily worn dressier clothes and been fine.
The restaurant itself was nice and quiet, which was to be expected considering that it was a Wednesday night and we arrived there a little before 5:30. We walked inside and were seated after a slight delay. The inside was dimly lit and sleekly modern, with marble tables and dark wood accents. We had several questions for our server, a) because we hadn't been there before and b) the vegetarian of the group created some problems for shared pots. After talking to his manager, he ended up seating us at a table for six instead.
The tables are set up for us to cook the food ourselves. There are double boiler pots on top of electric flat top burners which are heated to 500 degrees. What you do is you dunk the food into the boiling broth and fish it out when it's done, thus creating the problem of sharing a pot. The tables for six have two burners, so we could have separate pots with our own broths.
We started off with a cheddar cheese fondue, which the server made in front of us. After the pot let off steam, he started by pouring some beer into it, followed by garlic, cheddar cheese, swiss cheese, worchestershire sauce, freshly ground black pepper, and a dash of hot sauce. It all melted and swirled together into this sinful glob of decadance. We got dippers of apple chunks, a couple types of bread (white and maybe pumpernickel?), and fresh raw veggies (carrots, celery, and cauliflower) and he left us to it. I was a little weirded out at the thought of the dipper combinations, as was Jim, but we gamely tried it all. Ultimately, we agreed that the bread was by far the best choice, which was our natural instinct from the get-go. I loved the apples by themselves. They were sweet and with a squeeze of some sort of citrus (methinks orange). Of the veggies, the cauliflower went the best. The cheese itself was pretty good. I've read that beer and cheddar go well together, and this confirmed it. I don't like beer, but the carb-iness seemed to match the cheese nicely. Plus there wasn't a strong beer flavor.
Next up was our salads, which came as part of our meal. I got the spinach mushroom salad sans bacon and with the warm Burgundy shallot vinaigrette on the side. Jim (!) ordered the special, which was a Tropical Salad consisting of romaine and field greens, mango, tomatoes, fresh hearts of palm, coconut candied cashews, and a citrus dressing. I absolutely LOVED my salad. I typically do not care for raw mushrooms. While I don't hate them, I don't go out of my way to eat them. However, this was my first time trying raw cremini mushrooms, which ended up being pretty frickin' fabulous. Coupled with the spinach, red onion, and Roma tomatoes, the salad macked. And the dressing was amazing! I've never had a warm dressing before, and if they're all like what I had, I'm a fan. Even Jim liked it. It was bursting with flavor from the shallots and paired perfectly with the rest of the salad. Jim managed to choke down most of his before giving me the rest. I've never had hearts of palm before. They were ehh. Nothing to write home about, but not nasty. The best part of his salad was definitely the candied nuts. They were absolutely delicious. I could have eaten a bowl of those alone!
Finally our main courses came out. Each of us had our own pot of broth and a platter of raw food. Mine consisted of asparagus, red bell pepper, eggplant, tofu, portabello mushrooms, spinach ravioli, and artichoke hearts, and I had the Court Bouillon broth to cook 'em in. Jim got the French Quarter, which had Cajun-seasoned shrimp, filet mignon, chicken breast, and Andouille sausage. Ya think he had enough meat with that? His broth was a Mojo (pronounced Mo-ho) style, which ended up being an expensive pot of very little difference compared to my free one. While the server added garlic and a couple of other things, the broth wasn't what the meal was about, and at $7 for the pot, it really wasn't worth the cost. Anyway, we had a communal platter of veggies (red potatoes, button mushrooms, zucchini, and broccoli) and a whole mess of dipping sauces. I'm not sure I can remember them all, but let me give it a try. My favorite was probably the teriyaki sauce, which was a little sweeter than what I'm used to eating. There was also a sweet n' sour-style sauce, which was way too sweet and not enough sour. I didn't try the spicy mustard or the angry cocktail sauces, but Jim said the cocktail sauce had quite a horseradish kick to it. Finally there was a cream cheese-based green goddess sauce, which reminded me a little of spinach dip, and a blue cheese creamy sauce, which reminded me of why I never cared much for blue cheese.
So the deal was that we took our fondue forks, stabbed a couple of pieces of our choice and dunked 'em into the broth. Jim's meat took about 2 minutes to cook and my veggies 1 1/2 minutes. I started by dunking tofu in each of the broths and Jim tried some of the veggies. After trying and tasting no significant difference between the two (except I honestly think my basic broth may have been slightly better), I was over Jim's broth and stuck to my own.
The teriyaki sauces went great with the tofu and eggplant. The green goddess (which was our server's personal favorite) was used by me for the asparagus and zucchini. And I dipped the ravioli and the potatoes into the blue cheese. All in all, it was a tasty meal, and I don't think too horrible for me, provided that I showed adequate restraint with the creamy sauces. Jim really liked his meat. I guess the Cajun seasoning was nice.
Overall, we had a lot of fun. It was definitely a new dining experience, and very much a novelty. I have to say, it was a lot of fun dipping and fishing for the food and just trying all of the different combinations. Unfortunately we didn't have time for dessert, so I would be willing to come back and try it in the future. Plus we had 20% off (which seemed more like 15% to me) with Jim's work discount card (score!).
Oh, and we also got a Yin Yang, which was an ice cream drink, with Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur, Stoli Vanilla Vodka, and of course, ice cream. It was beautiful looking and quite sweet and non-alcohol tasting. I didn't feel anything, but when I went to the bathroom, my face was very rosy and my eyes were unnaturally bright. I hated it. I really don't like the way alcohol makes me look.
We barely arrived to the concert on time. The countdown clock was literally ticking down on the screen when we entered. By the time we took our (amazing) seats, it was less than 30 seconds to Carrie!
It was funny, because we were on the main floor, very likely exactly where we were standing two nights previously. The setup was completely different, with a long catwalk and seats instead of general admission. I couldn't believe our seats! I sat RIGHT NEXT TO THE WALKWAY! There was nothing but a short barrier between me and Carrie and Keith. How crazy is that?! Jim was nice enough to let me have that seat and he sat one over from me.
So Carrie came out and rocked Flat on the Floor to start the show off. If you had asked me to predict which song she'd open with, that would have been it. The girl is just as gorgeous in person as I thought she'd be and absolutely tiny. I was so excited to hear her live, and she put on a pretty good show. Her vocals were of course amazing and exactly what I expected of her. She performed all of her up tempo songs off of Carnival Ride, which was awesome. I really enjoyed her Paradise City cover--she aced it, and was a great entrance into Before He Cheats, the finale.
Between the sets, I went to the bathroom and bought a Diet Coke, of which it probably took about half an hour to do. Absolutely ridiculous. I was a little grumpy by the time I got back to my seat.
Then Keith Urban came out and put on a freaking amazing show. I didn't recognize the majority of the songs, but he was such a great performer that it didn't really matter. He was super friendly with the audience and I got two high fives from him! Plus Jim snagged a drumstick and a guitar pick. I was completely floored at his set, because I wasn't expecting it to be all that great. But he's an amazing guitarist and he plays the keyboard, too. I think I'm a fan of Keith Urban now.
Anyway, what an amazing night. It was one of those once in a lifetime opportunities to be so close to Carrie and Keith. There was one song where the mike was directly in front of us. I got some really good pictures and didn't need to zoom in!
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