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 Have
you ever dined at the "place with two sticks"? This is not a new
restaurant but a Charlotte mainstay for many years now. Each year I
am guaranteed at least one visit to this fine restaurant on July 10th, the
birthday of my youngest son. Since his very first birthday I have
been making a pilgrimage to "the place with two sticks". At the
current age of eight, he now calls it by its real name, The Melting Pot.
Now you might ask, "how can you review a restaurant where you have to cook
your own meal?" It is in truth a fair question, but one easily
answered. A fine restaurant is not just about the cooking of the
food, but also the preparation, the presentation, the ambiance, ...and for
me...the wine list. As our party numbered eight people it would be
incredibly difficult to describe everyone's dining experience as to the
taste and quality of their meal, but many of our items such as the cheese
fondues and chocolates were shared. I shared the Pacific Rim entree
with my mother-in-law.
 A wonderful fondue combination of teriyaki
marinated sirloin, shrimp, pork tenderloins, breast of duck,
boneless breast of chicken and pot-stickers. I substituted the andouille sausage for the pot-stickers as I do not personally care for
them. The duck is my personal favorite on this list and goes
wonderfully with the curry sauce. We chose the Feng Shui cheese
fondue, which is a mix of fontina and butterkase cheese with rice wine,
sake, minced shallots, garlic and scallions. My eldest son chose the
fiesta cheese fondue and my youngest chose the cheddar cheese fondue.
I have as I mentioned eaten at the melting pot many times, choosing
different variations on the menu. I can honestly say that the Feng
Shui is the best cheese fondue i have ever had. Represented at our
table were three cooking styles, the Coq au Vin, The court boullion, and
the Mojo Style. I chose the Coq au Vin for its fresh herbs,
mushrooms, and burgandy wine. The Mojo style that my eldest son
chose is very good for the seafood items especially shrimp due to its
citrus highlights.
I ordered the Mushroom Salad as my salad selection and was quite surprised by its size and content. I can not guess at the weight of the mushrooms on the plate but assure you that it is nearly a meal in itself. It is served up with parmesan italian dressing and is very very tasty. For desert we had the Disaronno Meltdown, the Chocolate S'mores, and a pure milk chocolate. The Disaronno Meltdown was my favorite with silky white chocolate swirled with Disarrono Originale ameretto and flambeed tableside. The chocolates are served up with a tray of pineapple chucks, cut large strawberries, cheesecake, pound cake, and marshmallows for dipping Quite exquisite. We of course had coffee with desert as is proper. Very fresh and bold with real cream. The one item I have not mentioned is the wine. No good meal should be served without a good wine. The University location of The Melting Pot has a total of 310 differant wines, all stored appropriately as they await your order. They range in price from an affordable $19.00 bottle of Ballatore Cellars, Gran Spumante from Modesto California to the not quite so affordable $685.00 bottle of 2001 Bordeaux Superieur, from Chateau Parenchere. I chose a redwine from Eastern Australia, a Mcwilliams Hanwood Estate 2005 Shiraz. It was very nice, especially with the pork tenderloin and duck. Dark fruit aromas with vanilla and oak on the nose, with black berries and prune on the palate.
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