/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.14820845]

Going to Melting Pot today. Any tips on obtaining the best experience? I’ve never had fondue

[Anonymous No.14820850]

If someone loses their piece of bread in the fondue, they have to do a dare.
Oldschool french mountain rules.
No cocktails, no veggies, no meat.
Bread and cheese.
Final destination.

[Anonymous No.14820851]

cum in it

[Anonymous No.14820855]

>>14820850
you sound fat and obnoxious

[Anonymous No.14820856]

>>14820850
>no meat
Anon, I want the best experience, not the most authentic.

[Anonymous No.14820873]

>>14820845
If you get a broth, go for seafood. If you get mear, go for the grill option

[Anonymous No.14820903]

my sister had a sweet 16 there but in order to rent the room we needed to order a minimum number of pots, so I ended up with 2 cheese, a broth, and a chocolate all to myself

[Anonymous No.14820916]

>>14820845
>Any tips on obtaining the best experience?
Yes.

If you have not made a reservation, make one now. I don't care if you think it's going to be slow, make a reservation now.

Also, if you think you will want to try more than one cheese 'type', emphasize in your reservation that you "would like to be seated at a table with two burners *if it is available*." The last bit will help communicate that you're cool. If you have 5+ people in the party, this doesn't matter, you're getting a double-burner.

if you are celebrating anything (birthday, promotion, etc) or you want them to acknowledge anything special (visiting old friends) tell them in the reservation.

if you got a coupon for 6 chocolate berries or some other promo, TELL THEM IN THE RESERVATION.

more in a following post.

[Anonymous No.14820956]

>>14820916
Monitoring this post

[Anonymous No.14821003]

Your mission is to immediately start looking at a menu and make decisions on which cheese(s) you agree on, and what entree proteins you want. Timing is the #1 thing that can fuck up your experience, and the sooner you know what you want, the more likely that this won't be a problem. Hell, see if you can find that location's menu online before you go. Questions are cool, but at least having an 'I either want the steak platter or if [condition] I want the seafood' plan going in will help a ton. Don't let your indecisive grandma fuck this up for everyone, decide for her if you have to.

make sure everyone knows they're gonna cook their own food.

Because there is a limited number of burners for pots, your party should agree on that number of types of cheese. Yes, technically you can get more cheeses than there are burners, but don't do this, you're gonna have a bad time.

Everything is sold 'by the portion' NOT 'by the pot'. For example, the term 'one cheese' means 'one type of cheese' or 'one pot-liner of cheese'. You will be billed by the number of portions of that cheese, that is, they can bring you 'one portion' which is 1/4 of that pot-liner, or they can bring you 2 portions which is 1/2 and so on. One portion is about enough for one adult person (unless it's a kid's entree). I once had a table of 8 come in and say "cheese and chocolate for everyone" and they had two pots for each and actually insisted they thought that meant they were gonna pay $32 (four portions). Unbelievable.

the standard cheese dippers are 'unlimited', and a platter is usually plenty for about two people/portions. However, they train to bring it out by the pot, so if you only get one for four portions, let them know you're probably going to need more (but only if you're actually hungry enough to eat it)

if you have two burners, I recommend one 'yellow' cheese and one 'white' cheese. The charcuterie board is pretty good if you're hungry and want meat with the cheese.

[Anonymous No.14821013]

>>14820855
Skinnyfat, pretty obnoxious though so you got that right.

[Anonymous No.14821028]

>>14821003
oh, back to ordering for a second: if you know (actually know, no questions) what you want for entree, and your server says something like "oh, I'll just get that while you eat cheese," THEY ARE MAKING A MISTAKE. Politely say you'd really like to get the order in now so you can get the menus out of the way, since they sorta take up a bunch of space. It doesn't mean they're a bad server, they'll probably be really good about everything else, but there are some weird dynamics on timing, just trust me. However, if grandma is still fucking see-sawing between cajun shrimp and regular, let the server do their thing, just know that you might be waiting a bit cuz of grandma. Enjoy each others' company, this place isn't supposed to be a fast experience.

I just remembered FOR THE LOVE OF GOD don't schedule a movie or god forbid a FUCKING PLAY DOWNTOWN after your meal. The meal is the main event for this night, unless you're only doing cheese and chocolate.

every course can be done a-la-carte, but make sure you're all choosing the same courses. if one person wants cheese and chocolate but not entree and the other person wants salad and entree, it's gonna be a bad time. a-la-carte prices per portion for each course: cheese/chocolate $8-10, salad $6, entree $24-30. If you want all four, do a combo, ~$35-50. If this is too steep, don't split, just settle on which courses you actually want (cheese & chocolate, cheese & entree, etc.). Splitting is fine if it's like mom and a kid sharing a portion of cheese or something, but if there's three of you trying to split one portion of four courses just so you can each 'try it', A. you're not gonna feel like there was enough food B. you're gonna finish the food real fast and get stuck waiting on the next course C. your server will hate you.

[Anonymous No.14821095]

>>14821028

Oh, before I forget, if you wanna be real slick, right when they sit you down, they're gonna turn on the pots. Wait till the host is gone, but asap (before they get hot) check how much water is in there. If it's up to your second knuckle, you're good, if it's between, probably good, if it's at your first knuckle, you probably need more water in there. The polite* way to notify staff is something like "hey our pot feels kinda light, is there enough water in it?". You wanna get more water in there asap so you're not waiting for it to heat up later. 99% chance this won't be an issue, but it's a pain in the butt for you and your server if it does 'burn out'. If you notice it start smoking or something, immediately use one of your black linens, grab the handle *with the linen for protection*, and move the pot off the burner onto the marble part of the table. Keep the linen away from it's bottom or it will melt and smell awful.

okay, back to food. I like apples with cheese, but what I like more is to set them aside to save them for the chocolate course, since you won't get apples then. Make sure to put them away from the outside edge of the table. Also, you're gonna need the space, so take them off whatever they came on and put them on your little white plate (unless your location still uses the bowls).

there aren't a lot of tips pertaining to salads, not gonna waste time there.

When you're done with cheese make sure you hold on to all of your fondue forks. Sometimes people try to give one up "because I still have two" and the busser is new and takes it. Having all three at entree is ideal.

[Anonymous No.14821163]

>>14821095
>it's bottom
this is how you know I work in restaurants

Entree comes as two-bite chunks of proteins (meat, fish, meat-pasta, etc.) that you cook in boiling broth, boiling oil, or on a grill. These are called cooking styles. Your server will walk you through cook times. Everyone makes the joke 'oh there should be a clock at the table' or 'you should have an app'. Lots of servers don't know, but there is actually an 'webapp' for this: https://www.meltingpot.com/fondue-timer.aspx.. It's just hard to find because corporate has it hidden behind a click and at the bottom of a page. Honestly, you'll probably only use it for your first piece or two and then wind up letting stuff 'go over' a bit because you're having fun talking and stuff. You can't really ruin anything in the broths, an extra minute doesn't matter much IMO, might shrink the shrimp a little.

Cooking styles are supposed to come over mid-way through you eating salad/finishing up cheese. If you're still really working, DON'T send them away, just ask if they can slide your cheese off the burner so you can keep eating it while the cooking style heats up. Trust me, you want it ready when your entree shows up so you're not staring at your food waiting.

Sometimes servers like to dump your bowl of veggies right into the broth when the entree comes. They do this because old servers teach them that some tables take forever to cook because they put veggies in piece by piece. It's counter-intuitive though because dumping them all in right away cools the pot down. If they go for the dump, tell them you don't want 'em in right away, but then don't be the guy I described. 3-4 veggies at a time shouldn't cool the pot down too much.

[Anonymous No.14821258]

>>14821163

In general, if you were thinking "I want plain, the most standard," get the coq-au-vin (standard broth + wine + scallions + mushrooms). The standard one is honestly completely fucking boring, and the coq isn't gonna be too much flavor even for picky children. Maybe ask for the mushrooms held if you don't like those.

If you are real seafood-heavy and want a broth, get the Mojo. It's there for seafood. I think all locations have it, it's been a while.

The oil (bourguignonne) is bar-none the best cooking style flavorwise, unless you don't like deep-fried food. If you have two burners, get one for sure. I know deep-fried steak sounds weird, but please trust me, if you do it right (and it's not too hard) it's fucking great. Everything on the menu is great cooked in the oil. Ask the server to demonstrate a stuffed mushroom. The stuffed mushrooms are amazing, only possible with the oil. HOWEVER, you can actually burn food in the oil, so you have to pay a lot more attention (at least while you figure it out) than with broth.

Also, it's possible for the oil to get too hot, because it retains energy, unlike water which evaporates some of that temperature off. A good way to know if oil is hot enough is to put a single potato in (make sure it's not real wet, sometimes if they're freshly prepped they have a layer of water, moist is fine) and it should bubble assertively with some light crackles. If it gets in and it's roiling and cracking and popping, ask for a new oil. If your server says 'oh we'll just put in potatoes to cool it down' fuck that, ask for a new one. If you have a table where you can see the temp guage, it should be at about quarter-power (this varies by burner make) once the oil has heated up. If you have cooked with oil before you can kinda see the motion.

[Anonymous No.14821265]

>>14820845
Get really stoned in the parking lot before you go in

[Anonymous No.14821278]

>>14821258

Ideally, they'll bring the oil over and either crank it all the way up (if your food is coming out any second) or they'll put it up quarter to halfway (if there might be some waiting). Guests are not advised to touch the burner controls, but IMO you're good if you're turning the oil down. If they turned it all the way up and you've been waiting more than five minutes, turn it down to quarter. Worst case scenario, you'll have to wait longer for it to heat up. I know we've been avoiding waiting, but in this case, A. boiling oil is fucking horrifying B. it's worth the wait, seriously the oil is gooood. Whatever you do, don't turn the oil up, leave that to staff. If you're sure it's too low and you already have food, wave down a server and ask them, unless they're new, they'll be able to eyeball it and they'll be familiar enough with that table to get it set where it needs to be (and hopefully communicate to your server that it's gotta get turned back down eventually. Oil cannot be left on half or max indefinitely, period).

I'm going on and on about the oil, but only because it really is 'best exeperience' territory, like you asked for. Don't drop an ice cube in the oil, you'll get everyone at the table oil burns. Yes, I've seen it done.

You'll get a set of six sauces per pot. If you have 5-6 people that should be enough, but if you have 8, ask for a third set.

[Anonymous No.14821310]

>>14821265
this is cool if you don't smell too much like pot and you're not too stoned to be competent. we had stoners come in a bunch and as long as you can interact and not be a danger to yourself with the boiling oil, it's whatever.

I've seen a couple come in and have a hard time even ordering. Found a baggie of vicodin they left behind after. They were a big pain in the ass. Made a mess, couldn't cook their food right, complained and blamed staff for it.

I forgot to mention, you server may or may not melt the cheese at your table. If they do, they're gonna put on a little show, enjoy it. feel free to take videos if you're that kinda person, but they basically all prefer you keep the focus on their hands, and don't take pictures of their faces.

This part is a lot of fun and it's a good time to joke around with your server. have a subject on your mind to talk about, melting cheese can take 5 minutes and it's nice for everyone if it's not in silence. A good server can get anyone talking and jovial, but new ones are shy and they like it if you hand them some material like "oh I like board games" or "lemme tell you about my favorite movie". However, once the cheese is ready, make sure you give the server an opening to gtfo your table, because they might have stuff to do. In the case that you're enjoying their entertainment and vice versa, and they're not slammed, they might stick around a few second and joke with you if you seem into that. I know this sounds weird for a restaurant, but it's a thing at the melting pot if you want it to be. I swear, some of the servers I worked with really loved their tables.

[Anonymous No.14821320]

>>14820916
You've been waiting your entire life for this moment, for this subject to cone up haven't you?

[Anonymous No.14821358]

>>14821310
Almost forgot about the grill, I highly advise against it if it's your first time. It's not bad, but it's not really what the melting pot does well. it was introduced to compete with 'cook at your table' steak concepts. It can get kinda smoky and most locations don't have ventilation to deal with that. It's good but not as good as the others. If you do get it, don't put pasta, potatoes, broccoli, or any sauce on it. Sauce will cause smoke.

once you're done eating and are ready for dessert, make sure to take all the fondue forks out of your pot. Servers use this to guage from afar whether you're still cooking or not. If you leave them in there, and you already had drink refills or got a pitcher, you might get left alone for a long time.

most of the entree plates stack, so if you're that kind of person, awesome. It will definitely help get your dessert out faster. However, don't stack silverware or food in between plates, that will create more work for whoever clears your table and will slow things down.

There's not really much to say about dessert, it's good. You can generally substitute any 'color' chocolate out. I.E. if you see a chocolate with nuts and caramel but you want dark chocolate instead of white or milk, you can do that. In fact, I recommend getting dark chocolate instead of milk in all such cases, the dark isn't bitter at all, it's just richer than the milk chocolate.

I went through a lot of the 'shit that can go wrong' and made it sound like an awful time and it's really not, if you know what to expect it's amazing. I've seen the vast majority of people have an excellent time.

The main thing is just look at the menu as soon as possible and make decisions about the things that sound good to you, then let your server know as soon as possible. They'll figure out how to make it happen for you.

pls report back after, I'm invested now.

[Anonymous No.14821365]

>>14821320
you have no idea. this is incredibly cathartic.

[Anonymous No.14821400]

>>14820845
I'm gonna fondue your mom

[Anonymous No.14821999]

>>14821358
Stupid question here.

So the dippers that go with the cheese and chocolate are unlimited since the cheese/chocolate actually gets used up right? Or am I wrong? The meat itself is just the portion you get and you can't order more without paying more correct?

My gf and I go there every so often and really enjoy the experience but it always comes across as a slight bit pricey in the end.

[Anonymous No.14822093]

>>14821999
>So the dippers that go with the cheese and chocolate are unlimited since the cheese/chocolate actually gets used up right?
in theory, yes, the cheese should be the limiting factor. lots of times people didn't finish the cheese because they didn't feel like eating that cheese, but most frequently it came back basically empty.

We did see some people come in and order one portion of cheese or chocolate and then ask for board after board of dippers, which resulted in our location putting limits on chocolate dippers.

[Anonymous No.14822435]

>>14821365
not OP but thanks for the write-up anon, saved for future reference

[Anonymous No.14822508]

>>14820850
>no cocktails
>no meat
Why even bother?

[Anonymous No.14822531]

>>14820845
Incredibly overpriced for bread dipped in cheese

[Anonymous No.14822824]

>>14821358
At my seat now. We ordered the four course meal, with everyone pretty much getting the same thing -Alpine rackette, house salads, classic entrees, and the turtle dessert fondue. The waiter recommended this to cut down the number of pots we had to get going

[Anonymous No.14822844]

some high quality autism in this thread

[Anonymous No.14822860]

>>14820845
best to figure out what you want the most of and concentrate on that. also you can skip "courses" you don't really want. maximize what you do want by planning ahead of time. otherwise you can fill up too fast early before the later courses arrive

[Anonymous No.14823063]

>>14822824
What cooking style?

Also get off your phone at the dinner table.

Make sure to ask if you can roast a marshmallow

[Anonymous No.14823089]

>>14820845
At least it's not a cultural and ethnic melting pot. That destroy high trust homogeneous societies and social cohesion, numerous studies confirm this. Well established fact in the research psychology community.

[Anonymous No.14823096]

>>14823063
Coq au vin. Eating it now.

Sorry dad

Would ask but I don’t like marshmallow. Any other dessert tips?

[Anonymous No.14823281]

>>14820916
why does it matter if you have a coupon when placing reservations? seems like a good way to be discriminated against

[Anonymous No.14823294]

>>14821003
are you telling me they had to spend $64 per person just for the cheese? that seems like an incredible rip off

[Anonymous No.14823308]

Guys, everyone keeps forgetting and is putting the food straight from the fondue fork into their mouths. How common and how much of a faux pas is this?

[Anonymous No.14823337]

What happens if you dip your balls in the cheese pot

[Anonymous No.14823380]

>>14823308
not as much of a faux pas as using your phone at the dining table FAGT

[Anonymous No.14823398]

>>14823337
The police arrive within minutes.

[Anonymous No.14823419]

>>14820916
>The last bit will help communicate that you're cool

Ok but why would I care what some cheese bitch thinks

[Anonymous No.14823625]

Ok fondue man, serious question now: you mentioned selecting your cheese before starting. What are the typical options? Can I get a pot full of melted brie?

[Anonymous No.14823753]

>>14823625
Also, will I get kicked out for pouring the cheese into a cup and drinking it?

[Anonymous No.14823834]

Holy fuck I hope this place goes under due to covid. It's sounds like total fucking cancer. I'm glad I've never been obese thinking cheese is a meal.

[Anonymous No.14824013]

>>14823294
No, he ordered two $8 portions (one cheese one chocolate) a head, which is $128. Is that steep? Maybe, sure, but I don't make the rules. Most people who come in love it and are only too happy to pay those prices, I've seen 'em.

>>14823419
>Ok but why would I care what some cheese bitch thinks
You shouldn't, but she can ruin your night by timing your table like shit and leaving out the bells and whistles (all the servers develop 'em). You can complain and get a discount, but what a pain, when a little feigned politeness will get you what you came for.

>>14823625
>What are the typical options? Can I get a pot full of melted brie?
Depends on the location. There's always a cheddar base, a mellow-white base, and a sharp-white base, then there are options to add stuff like bacon or mushrooms or nutmeg or blue cheese or potato or shallots, etc etc. There is an option where they add chunks of brie to one, but again, it's locational. Typically these options are 'presets' but if a server really likes you, you can probably talk them into a custom combo of additions.

>>14823753
No, but it won't be good because the cheese is a bit too thick to drink unless your server fucked it up.

However, the chain is all about trying to accommodate the customer, so if you tell them you want to drink cheese and you'll pay for the portions equal to volume you want to drink, you could probably tell them "hey I know this is weird, but I wanna fuckin' drink cheese from a cup, can you help with that?" they'll probably figure that out for you. Even thinking of it now, I can kinda think of how I woulda done it if requested. We thrived on creative stuff like that when we could. Might taste a bit like beer or wine, bit could be good.

That's assuming your request seems sober (if not you), not too busy, and your server likes you. Item C might override items A and B.

[Anonymous No.14824041]

I forgot to mention, the cheese is high quality, as was the rest of the product. Whenever we ran out of stuff, the owner told me to go to the boutique grocers for replacement, always organic produce, upper-shelf version of the item to replace.

[Anonymous No.14824047]

>>14820903
I’m looking for a virgin waifu. Does ur sister fit the bill? I have land

[Anonymous No.14824051]

>>14820845
>I’ve never had fondue
Always dip twice

[Anonymous No.14824323]

>>14824013
Could you get the cheese to around the consistency of buttermilk without fucking up the flavor too much? Fuck I might have to shell out for this sometime.

[Anonymous No.14824373]

>>14823834

Been there once. Hated it. Spent 100 bucks (after tip) for me and my date/gf. Pretentious yuppie fag big city shit. she loved it thiugh. I’d of rather spent 1/3rd of that 100 bucks on a couple of steaks and grilled them at home.

[Anonymous No.14824460]

>>14824013
>hey I know this is weird, but I wanna fuckin' drink cheese from a cup, can you help with that?

Find out how to ask this question verbatim at the next town-hall presidential debate.

[Anonymous No.14825537]

>>14822824
>>14823096
I can't imagine typing shit into a phone while eating even if I was alone, eat the fuckin food ya little spastic.

[Anonymous No.14826048]

>>14824373
When I started working there, I agreed with your sentiment. Frou frou bullshit. But people do really like it, and having eaten it without having to pay for it, it is pretty good, maybe worth doing once a decade. I'd still rather have a couple of steaks. (or genuine chinese hot-pot).

But it's not really for guys. Men do come in and eat without women, but 90+% of the time women make up 50% or more of the party. I eventually realized it's not 'for' people like me. It's a good meal for breaking the ice with people because it's also an 'activity' and you have to learn to do it together. There's also lots of flavor combinations to any meal, so it really gives you stuff to discuss if the conversation hits a lull. Among other things, it's excellent 2nd or 3rd date material, where you're trying to 'wow' someone and get laid.

>>14824323
you can get it close. definitely gonna taste more like the base you choose, but 'beer cheese' is a thing and it's not bad. It would still taste mostly like cheese.

[Anonymous No.14826285]

>>14826048
Different anon, thank you for all your points so far. If I don't like the taste of alcohol with cheese, should I avoid this place, then?

[Anonymous No.14827548]

>>14826285
No, or not for that reason, at least. The beer-cheese taste was just in response to getting a really runny, drinkable cheese. The beer/wine flavor is usually quite subtle (moreso with the beer) and all the alcohol burns off in the melting process. Also, they'll happily melt the cheese down with broth as the base if you want it to absolutely not touch booze (lots of muslims like fondue, who knew). still tastes good, just not as rich/'full'.

[Anonymous No.14827815]

>>14827548
Interesting. I'm pretty autistic so I'm really sensitive to the taste of alcohol, even if it's subtle. I like "event" dining experiences but fondue can be dicey, I have had experience where not all the alcohol was burned off before. What cheeses would you recommend for an autismo tastelet that loves cheese and bread?

[Anonymous No.14827830]

>>14824047
no, and she dates black guys almost exclusively
I've expressed my disapproval and I'm hoping she fixes her bad ways