The Melting Pot

Where: 608 Anacapa St., 845-4444, meltingpot.com

What: The latest location for this national franchise provides an interactive dining experience and an assortment of cheese, meat, and dessert fondues.

How much: Cheese fondues $18 (serves 1-2), small chocolate fondue $18; fondue fusion four course meal featuring lobster and filet mignon $94 per couple

The dish: Decked out with earthenware pots, color-coordinated dipping forks, and small table set burners, The Melting Pot’s interior provides comfortable seating in a communal atmosphere for guests to savor signature four-course fondue dinners (Big Night Out meal selection) or a la carte fondue courses. The Melting Pot franchise umbrellas over 140 locations across 37 states, and has continued an aggressive expansion for more than three decades. Traditional Swiss cheese fondue decadently provides a warm liquid cheese into which one can dip cubed pieces of bread. Salads follow as a precursor to the meat fondue plate where raw pieces of lobster, beef, and shrimp are dipped and cooked in the hot pot with a choice of a variety of cooking styles and flavor infusions. An array of sauces from green goddess to spicy horseradish color tiny porcelain square plates for, guess what, dipping. The dessert course provides bubbling melted chocolate to coat a skewered strawberry, or cookies and creamed marshmallows.