Dangerously Delicious

I love fondue. I love the concept of an entire pot of melted cheese, existing only so that I can dunk stuff into it. The melted chocolate variety is a can’t miss as well. So I figured an entire fondue restaurant would have to be awesome. I was partially right.

The restaurant is located in a cute retail district of Edgewater, and I spotted lots of other intriguing eateries that I now want to try. The atmosphere is hip and dimly lit, with sconces and gauzy fabric hanging strategically from the walls. Unobtrusive jazzy music plays in the background. At the center of each table is a heating element for keeping the fondue nice and bubbly. Be careful, the table is plugged into an outlet near the floor. I nearly ripped it out of the wall when I pulled my chair out.

The menu is set up in courses. For an appetizer, you choose a cheese blend. There are options like swiss with white wine, cheddar and monterey jack with apple cider, etc. You sit patiently while your waiter stirs and blends the ingredients and the cheese melts before your eyes. Then you are served bowls of bread and apple chunks for dipping. For me, this course was by far the best part. I love the contrast between the molten, salty cheese and the tart, cold, and crisp fruit. Apples + cheese = me in heaven.

The entrée course is a little more complicated. You can choose from a list of meat/cooking style/side dish combinations, or, if you choose the Magic Feast for Two (a prix fixe type of deal that includes all the courses), you select one kind of cooking style and receive a platter filled with some of the different types of food they offer. The so-called cooking style is actually your choice of a number of kinds of broth, heated to boiling in the fondue pot on the table. Choices include white or red wine-based concoctions, different Asian- or Caribbean-flavored broths, or simple beef or chicken broth. The raw food (either beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, salmon, scallops, or ravioli) is skewered by the customer right at the table and placed in the liquid for two minutes until cooked. The Magic Feast, which I ordered, includes four selections out of the seven food items on the menu. It also comes with mushrooms and broccoli, which are floated in the fondue pot to cook, and rice (pre-cooked, thankfully).

This process all sounds well and good on paper, but in practice, it was way too labor intensive for my fancy. For a party of two, we had an awful lot of skewers in the pot at once. It was tricky remembering which ones had gone in the bath when, and there was some concern over whether things were really cooked all the way through. There was also the issue of the steam rising out of the pot, which burned me as I tried to locate my food in the bubbly water (dim lighting probably not the best choice for this reason). The seasonings in the broth also tended to cluster at the surface, so floating items like the broccoli collected a disproportionate and, frankly unpleasant, amount of black pepper when they were pulled from the stew. Okay, enough of doing my own clumsy cooking. On to dessert.

The dessert course is, like the appetizer, nice and easy. Choose from a selection of stuff you want melted into your chocolate and you’re ready to go. I picked a simple one – a glob of peanut butter. I had fun swirling and stirring it into the chocolate as it heated up. The accompanying plate of goodies included chopped up strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, and brownies. All were fresh and delicious when dunked in the fondue.

The prices at Magic Pot, I feel, are not overly high given the trendy and specialized nature of the place. Depending on how much you want to eat, you would probably spend about $75 for a couple. The Magic Feast for Two I mentioned is $80, and includes all beverages (non-alcoholic, though. It’s BYOB). This deal seems to be the most cost effective if you want to try all the courses and a lot of the food items that they offer. But the main drawback to it is that you have to choose one cooking style to suit all the kinds of food you order. If you select an entrée off the list, on the other hand, the combination of food and flavors is already set up for you to be optimally delicious. So if you’re looking for an entrée that’s a little more cohesive, I recommend ordering a la carte.

Magic Pot, my verdict is in. While the appetizer and dessert courses were delightful, I don’t go to restaurants to do my own food prep. Please cook me something, and then give me something else to dunk it in. Clearly, I cannot handle this much responsibility.

The Magic Pot Fondue Bistro
934 River Road
Edgewater
(201) 969-8005
www.themagicpotfonduebistro.com

FancyPants:

— by Nicole Little
Nicole, GoOutJersey's associate editor, is a Nutley native and recent Weehawken transplant. She loves dining out and imposing her opinions on others, which makes her a well-qualified reviewer.

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