As Valentine’s Day approaches, young men’s fancies turn to thoughts of fondue.
Fondue–in which members of a dinner party cook food over a communal pot of hot oil, or dip food into communal pots of cheese and chocolate–is cited time and time again as one of the most romantic ways to dine. Lovers, it seems, cannot wait to huddle around a cauldron of bubbling cheese.
That keeps the area’s six fondue restaurants humming just about every weekend, but the days leading up to Valentine’s Day are particularly busy.
I have to confess that I’m not entirely sure why. I understand the romance of sitting across a table from the object of your affection; I’ve never understood how placing a pot of scalding liquid between you enhances anything.
Maybe it’s just laziness; fondue dining takes more work than I’m willing to invest. I’m reasonably adept at dunking bread, fruit, veggies and pound cake into their respective cheese and chocolate fondues, but to cook meat and fish properly, you have to pay attention. I can’t converse and also keep track of how long the scallops have been in the pot.
And it’s true that, when we’ve returned home from a fondue dinner, my wife can’t wait to take off her clothes. But that’s because they smell of cooking oil.
Nevertheless, I acknowledge that I represent a cranky minority. The world loves fondue. And so, in deference to the season, I visited the area’s three full-fledged fondue concepts (and a few fondue dabblers) for a little comparison dipping (giving each a one- to four-fondue-fork rating):
Geja’s Cafe
340 W. Armitage Ave.; 773-281-9101
The oldest and hands down the best fondue establishment in Chicago is Geja’s, which began its existence 40 years ago on Wells Street, moving to its current Armitage Avenue location in 1971. It consistently has been rated at or near the top of every survey of Most Romantic Restaurants ever since.
Oddly enough, owner John Davis doesn’t talk of his restaurant as a romantic place per se. “It’s a good first-date place,” he says. “Fondue is a good ice-breaker; it gives you something to talk about. It makes it easy for people on their first date.”
But the restaurant’s cozy booths, ultra-dim lighting and nightly live guitar music are pretty mood-enhancing. “It’s the kind of restaurant that gives itself over to romance,” says Davis. “One of my landlords once told me he kept the rent down because when he brought a date here, he always scored.”
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The menu details a la carte options, including a couple of meat and cheese platters. But the interesting picks are the “premier” dinners, which include cheese fondue, salad, meat and/or seafood fondue and chocolate fondue for one price. The Prince Geja’s combination ($40.95) is the high-end choice, a lovely platter of high-quality lobster tail, shrimp, scallops, chicken and aged beef. Other combos offer various assortments of beef, chicken and seafood at progressively lower prices, all the way down to $19.95 for an all-vegetable assortment.
The meat cooks up fast and clean in the bubbling soybean oil, though a sprinkle of salt improves things. All the food turned out properly cooked, except for one piece of scallop that we retrieved, 30 minutes later, sizzling like a firecracker.
The cheese fondue is excellent, a rich and buttery Gruyere cut with white wine and cherry brandy. The dark chocolate fondue is similarly impressive, flamed with a little orange liqueur and served with strawberries, apples, bananas, pound cake and marshmallows.
Service is highly informative; our waitress explained the fondue ins and outs, monitored our progress (at one point, turning down the flame when the oil was getting too hot) and passing along helpful tips, such as toasting the marshmallows over the liqueur flame–yum.
Davis is a wine devotee, and his restaurant offers a substantial, nicely varied wine list with exceedingly fair prices.
Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday, Geja’s will exclusively feature a four-course fondue package including a glass of champagne and a rose. Cost is $80 per person, tax and tip included; $65 for the 3-5 p.m. Saturday and 2-4 p.m. Sunday seatings.
Rating: FOUR FONDUE FORKS
Fondue Stube
2717 W. Peterson Ave.; 773-784-2200
Another time warp, this Northwest Sider has something of a chalet look, except that the wood trim on the wall is covered with Christmas lights that stay up year ’round. It sounds garish, but it’s actually kind of cozy, in an offbeat way.
Apart from its penchant for naming cocktails and fondue combinations after composers and classical works (such as the Symphonie Fantastique combo and the Solti Fanfare cocktail), Fondue Stube’s format is nearly identical to that of Geja’s, offering a la carte fondue options along with four-course combos.
Fondue Stube, however, offers four choices of cheese fondue (traditional Swiss, plus Cheddar, muenster and a scary-sounding cream cheese and lox blend). Its dessert fondue comes in dark-chocolate fudge, white chocolate or caramel.
With a top fondue combo price of $29.95, Fondue Stube is considerably less expensive than the competition. True, portions are slightly smaller, but we were plenty full by the time we eased away from the table. And you always can increase your portion for a few bucks more. There’s no lobster tail option, but the beef had flavor, the scallops were meaty and the shrimp good-sized. The restaurant also offers all-you-can-eat beef fondue (Mondays and Wednesdays, $23) and seafood fondue (Tuesdays and Thursdays, $25.95) every week. (Note: The all-you-can-eat option is not available on Valentine’s Day.)
This venerable Northwest Sider has been open since 1972, and Carol Hiyana Martorelli has been its owner since 1977. “Time for retirement,” she laughs, but eventually she won’t be joking. Check this cute spot out while you can.
Friday through Tuesday, Fondue Stube will feature a three-course beef and lobster fondue dinner for $89.95 per couple; the regular menu also will be available.
Rating: THREE FONDUE FORKS
The Melting Pot
609 N. Dearborn St.; 312-573-0011
While dining at the Chicago location of The Melting Pot, a manager passing by actually stopped and said, “And how are we fon-doing?”
Oh, no, you fon-didn’t!
The Melting Pot is a nationwide chain with 100 locations (and more to come), including four in the Chicago area (Buffalo Grove, Oakbrook Terrace and Schaumburg are the others). Compared to the strictly local fondue restaurants, the Melting Pot is bigger, brighter, more crisply professional in its manner (you decide if that’s a good thing) and offers a menu with significantly more variety in every category.
It’s also the most expensive. The top fondue combo goes for $46, though there are three-course fondues for two that work out to $25 per person. Two-course entree-salad deals begin in the teens.
The choices can be paralyzing. There are four cheese fondue blends, three salads and besides the various protein combinations for your entree fondue, you even choose the cooking liquid–regular canola oil, vegetable broth or a couple of flavored broths that cost a bit extra.
We opted for the “coq au vin” broth, incurring a $6 upcharge. It worked very nicely with the mushrooms and chicken, but we were indifferent to how it handled the lobster tail and tuna. And it does nothing for the beef and pork.
Our waitress highly recommended the three-cheese fondue, but the stuff that hit our table took a long time to melt properly and ended up very runny. I’m guessing that someone got the cheese-wine ratio wrong.
There are lots of dessert choices; we picked the yin and yang combination of dark and white chocolates. It looked pretty in the pot, but tasted waxy.
We visited on a Wednesday, which happens to be Ladies Night, featuring cocktail discounts and complimentary nibbles, and sure enough, the bar was packed with young lovelies. At a fondue bar, are cheesy pickup lines more acceptable?
Friday through Tuesday, The Melting Pot will exclusively feature a five-course fondue package, including champagne toast and gift bag, for $65 per person.
Rating: TWO FONDUE FORKS
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Afraid of commitment? Here are a few places to just sample fondue
If you want to sample fondue without committing to a fondue evening, here are a few places to keep in mind:
Ethel’s Chocolate Lounge, various city and suburban locations, www.ethelschocolate.com. These city and suburban spots serve handmade chocolates by the piece or box, hot cocoa and other treats–as well as a very tasty fondue made with a dark and milk-chocolate blend, served with strawberries and bananas and your choice of additional sides such as apricots, ginger snaps, dried pineapple and more (we thought the pretzels were a nice touch). The small size ($15) includes three extra sides; the large ($25), which serves four, includes five additional sides.
Graham’s 318, 318 S. Third St., Geneva, 630-845-3180. Two doors down from Graham’s Fine Chocolates store is this cozy coffee lounge, whose dessert offerings include a fondue of Graham’s homemade chocolate. The small size ($15) includes a choice of five accompaniments, among them marshmallows, pound cake, bananas, pretzels and strawberries; the large portion ($25, enough for four) includes seven accompaniments.
Marshall Field’s, 111 N. State St., 800-265-2665. Field’s Culinary Studio will host a “Girls’ Night Out: Fondue” event from 6-9 p.m. March 1. Participants will prepare and taste cheese and chocolate fondues while sipping sparkling wine. Cost is $65; registration required.
Quartino, 626 N. State St., 312-698-5000. This small-plate Italian offers a couple of fondue choices, though in keeping with Italian authenticity, the dishes are dubbed fondutas. For starters, there’s a cheese fonduta ($8), made with a blend of imported Italian cheese, served with bread for dipping (additional accompaniments $2 per serving). Among the dessert options is a chocolate fonduta of either dark chocolate or caramel ($9 and $7 respectively) served with strawberries (additional accompaniments $2). The fondutas are served on miniature iron pots kept middling-warm by tea candles. Portions are small, but the fondutas have great taste, and you can’t beat the price.
Vermilion, 10 W. Hubbard St., 312-527-4060. Throughout February, this Indian-Latin fusion restaurant is offering a chocolate-Chambord fondue dessert, the chocolate laced with ginger and pomegranate liqueur, served with strawberries, nuts and other items for dipping. The $15 dessert serves two.
— Phil Vettel
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