Following the trend of pumping your own gas or checking out your own groceries, there’s a restaurant where you can cook your own food, but in this case it’s a lot more entertaining. At the Melting Pot in Darien, fondue is on the menu for starter, main course, and dessert. You do the cooking and have the fun.  The drudgery of preparation and cleanup is done for you.  

Fondue, a popular Swiss import, was originally a meal of melted cheese served in a communal pot, eaten by dipping chunks of bread on long forks through the cheese. The idea has expanded to include meat, seafood, and vegetable entrées – all cooked in hot oil or simmering broth – and goes even further with chocolate fondue for dessert.

The recipe for fondue is simple, with just a few ingredients. Cheese, of course, and wine provide the flavor. Lemon Juice and cornstarch are technical components that promote smooth melting and help the fondue to resist breaking. Optional flavors include garlic and a shot of booze – Kirsch or Cognac.

As with all simple recipes, ingredient quality is paramount. Since you only taste the cheese and wine, they’d better be good.  An imported traditional Alpine cheese like Emmenthaler, aged Gruyère, Comté, or Chällerhocker (if you can find it) can’t be beat. Luckily, these are some of my favorite cheeses – rich, nutty, complex, and delicately sharp.

Dipping the bread is the fun of fondue!  We tried both the three grain loaf and the Roman Focaccia from master baker Tim Topi at Wave Hill Bakery – both delicious. The three grain was a little more dense, the focaccia lighter.

I roasted a mix of cauliflower, broccoli, and mushroom caps for dipping vegetables. I’d like to tell you that roasting the vegetables creates complex caramelized flavors (and it does), but the real reason I roasted was for ease. It was much simpler to cut the vegetables, toss them with some olive oil and salt and put them all together on one tray in a 425° oven than to mind pots of steaming water and sautéeing skillets.  Make sure you cut the vegetables to bite size.  You want to be able to pop the whole thing in your mouth when it’s covered with hot and gooey cheese.

Switzerland has lovely white wines, but they’re hard to find.  Excellent wines from just across the border in Italy to the south or Alsace to the north can fill the bill. With our fondue we enjoyed Kupel Weiser Pinot Grigio ($12 Total Wine) and Trimbach dry Riesling ($16).

With a home fondue success under our belts, we wanted to check out the only restaurant in our area devoted to fondue. The Melting Pot at 14 Grove St. in Darien covers all the bases. The menu includes cheese fondue in many flavors, lots of variations on main courses, and irresistible dessert choices.

Starting with cheese fondue, we picked the Classic Alpine: Gruyère, Raclette, and Fontina cheeses melted with white wine, garlic, and fresh nutmeg.  A basket of assorted breads came with it, as well as chunks of fresh tart apple and assorted vegetables. We mopped the pot clean!  Other options include: Wisconsin Cheddar, Fiesta, Bacon & Jalapeño, Spinach & Artichoke, and many more.

For the main course, not only is there a choice of meat, but you can choose the cooking style, too: Court Bouillon (vegetable broth); Mojo – bouillon flavored with garlic and citrus; Coq au Vin – Burgundy wine infused with fresh herbs, spices, and mushroom; and our favorite – hot oil served with a side of tempura sesame batter for deep frying.  

For the center of the plate, the choices include lobster, shrimp, chicken, filet mignon, sirloin, duck or veggies with lots of marinades and seasonings. We went for another Classic: Angus Beef sirloin, Memphis-style dry rub pork, Pacific white shrimp, herb-crusted chicken breast, and Teriyaki-marinated sirloin.  Two tempura batters, six different sauces, and a bowl of vegetables came with it. The meats all take a few minutes to cook to a lovely golden crispness so everyone ends up with a couple of forks in the pot. This can be a little like a game of Twister made risky with hot oil and food. A big slotted spoon is provided to rescue anything that falls off the fork in the tangle.  

Be sure to save room for the Chocolate Fondue dessert menu: The Original (our choice) with milk chocolate and peanuts had fruit, cake, marshmallows and more for dipping. Other worthy options are the Flaming Turtle, Caramel Toffee Crunch, Bananas Foster, and Dark & Dulce. Makes you want to eat dessert first, doesn’t it?  The whole four course experience, including a salad, easily shared by two, was $47 – a pretty good deal!  

All these choices and cooking techniques were a little daunting, but our waiter Brandon was very patient, helpful, and humorous –  taking time to explain it all and adding to the good time.

Fondue is a fun change of pace whether done at home or out at the Melting Pot.  It’s a festive way for a couple or a crowd of 4 or more to share a delicious meal.