The Melting Pot in Irvine has put us in a retro mode in the best way by bringing back the fun and taste of fondue cooking.
The restaurant does it on a much better level than we used to do it at home. Here we can dip lots of savories into melted cheese for a first or main course of dining or fruit and cake into chocolate for dessert,all in retro glamour fondue pots.
The restaurant serves specialty martinis and great cocktails. Lately, it’s added food and wine tastings and full food- and wine-matching dinners for even more culinary exploration.
The Melting Pot’s wine tastings are casual and take place the first week of each month. Prices range from $20 to $35 per person.
The restaurant also offers a more formal dining experience for couples and large groups. One can reserve a table for a meal and order wine from the Melting Pot’s nice wine list. Or diners can participate at a sit-down, five-course wine dinner.
Wine dinners are hosted by a winemaker or winery representative who discusses the intricacies and background of their wines. The cost for the wine dinners ranges from $60 to $75 per person.
A Flora Springs Wine Dinner takes place on Tuesday. Nat Combs from Napa Valley’s Flora Springs Winery will pair chardonnays, merlots and single appellation cabs with four fabulous fondue courses.
Here’s the menu: colossal shrimp cocktail with Soliloquy Sauvignon Blanc followed by cheese fondues and Select Cuvee Chardonnay. Then comes a salad of spinach with strawberries and Flora Springs Ros & #233;.
The entree consists of lobster tail with roasted vegetable ravioli, filet mignon, chicken breast and citrus-marinated pork tenderloin. The wine is Napa Valley Merlot and Holy Smoke Vineyard Cabernet.
Finish the dinner with chocolate fondues: White Chocolate Bananas Foster and Milk Chocolate Snickers. The stand-up wine for this sweet course is Trilogy.
The price of the Flora Springs dinner is $65 per person, plus tax and tip. It will be served from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Reservations are required, so call (949) 955-3242 right away.
You can get your name on a mailing list for both the monthly tastings and the quarterly winemaker dinners.
Melting Pot: 2646 Dupont Drive at Jamboree Road in Irvine.
Tru Love
A little more than a year ago, Louis Laulhere, owner of La Vie En Rose in Brea, invited wine importer Pierre Truyoo to bring wines to the restaurant so that he could taste them.
Something new was born in Orange County.
Pierre was importing wines not previously available in the U.S., most of them from smaller producers in lesser known regions of France. The wine pros and consumer connoisseurs were quite taken with them.
Louis and some wine experts he’d invited in to taste the wines were so impressed that he immediately put several of them on his already inspiring wine list.
People heard about the unique new wave of French wines and that they were becoming available. I found out, tasted the wines and immediately gathered up a cadre of my gourmet friends to have dinner.
It was such a good experience that we did it on another occasion just so we could taste more of the wines in the portfolio. The food that La Vie en Rose matched with the wines was extraordinary in beauty and taste as well.
Now on Friday, June 23, Pierre and Louis are set to present five more wines just available to the public at the Second Annual Tru Wines Dinner.
The menu and wines: brochette de scampi grille aux fines herbes (broiled shrimp with fresh herbs) with Aramis C & #244;tes De Gascogne Blanc (white), now regarded as one of France’s unique “country” wines.
C & #244;telette de veau r & #244;tie, sauce cr & #269;me aux chanterelles (roasted baby veal chop with chanterelle cream sauce) served with Prince Poniatowski Aigle Blanc Vouvray from the Loire Valley.
The third course is cuisse de canard confit, sauce aux pommes (leg of duckling confit style with apple compote) and Madiran red wine made from a blend of 60% tanat, 20% cabernet franc and 20% cabernet sauvignon. This blend has caught the eye of many wine writers.
Then, there’s the tournedos de boeuf saut & #233; aux poivre vert (beef tournedos with green peppercorn cream sauce) with Ch & #226;teau Saint Marc of Margaux.
Lastly comes a refreshing dessert of fresh fruit with meringue, accompanied by Juran & #231;on Moelleux Clos Lapeyre.
This wine dinner is an outstanding way to discover alternative wines of fine quality,and not so much price,that can enhance your future wine enjoyment greatly. The restaurant will find many of us who made discoveries with them last year attending again.
The evening begins at 7 p.m. The price is $75. Location: La Vie En Rose at 240 S. State College Blvd., Brea.
Phone (714) 529-8333 for reservations, which are necessary. See you there.
Happy 10th
When Salt Creek Grille’s cofounders and proprietors, Tim McCune and Pete Truxaw, throw a party, we can expect something extraordinary.
So the celebration of the restaurant’s 10th anniversary promises to be another very special and fun occasion.
Art Alive & Up Close will take place Sunday, July 9,the actual date of their momentous opening in Dana Point a decade ago. Proceeds benefit the Special Olympics Orange County.
The evening’s highlight will be a jazz concert featuring Brian Bromberg, Bill Cantos and Tony Guerrero, with guest appearances from their all-star friends.
The spacious tree lined patio will be transformed to evoke a Commedia dell’ Arte of a Venetian Carnival with Cirque-inspired d & #233;cor, masks and characters.
Appetizer stations will feature chilled seafood complemented by a unique ice sculpture and hot signature appetizers of the restaurant, along with tray passed hors d’oeuvres.
A Ketel One martini station will pour premium martinis. Fine varietal wines also will be available. A silent auction will be set up on the perimeter of the patio.
Dinner will be served in the main dining room, where food stations, including salads, carved to order prime rib with all the trimmings, grilled fish and additional hot entrees will be available.
Guests will return to the patio for desserts and coffee, including a giant chocolate fountain. A spirited live auction will be conducted and smooth jazz will be played throughout the remainder of the night.
Local impressionist artist Rich Flynn will memorialize the celebration with a plein aire painting of the event.
It’s no big secret that I am fond of the beautiful Craftsman-style architecture of Salt Creek Grille. I’m always happy to dine at the restaurant’s large and very convivial bar as an alternative to my dining room seating.
The restaurant consistently offers award-winning urbane American food and has an extensive wine program that has merited the highest awards in the industry. What a shame if you’ve not experienced it all. Perhaps this is your chance.
Tickets for the fund-raiser/anniversary celebration are $75 per person and can be ordered by calling (714) 564-8374.
The evening begins at 5 p.m.
Salt Creek Grille: 32802 Pacific Coast Highway at Crown Valley Parkway, Dana Point; (949) 661-7799.
High Note
David Wilhelm has put grand pianos in his French 75 Brasserie in Irvine and Rouge in Newport Beach.
The restaurants already had a luscious French feel, but it’s a nice touch coupled with the local and Los Angeles-based jazz vocalists and bands that will be featured.
Live music is scheduled for Thursday through Saturday nights at the Brasserie and Wednesday through Saturday at Rouge.
David is expanding on the live jazz that’s a big part of the “American in Paris” concept at French 75 in Laguna Beach. It’s created a relaxed, supper-club style environment at that location.
The introduction of live jazz marks other changes happening at Rouge at Fashion Island.
The Left Bank Lounge near the bar has been remodeled, with the space opened up to offer an optimal listening experience as well as more comfortable seating.
In addition, the summer dinner menu at both restaurants now offers a steak frites section as well as some lighter, warm weather salads and sandwiches.
Just in time for summer, both French 75 Brasserie and Rouge are featuring Bubbly Hour from Monday through Friday. The hour features carafes of wine at glass prices, half off signature champagne cocktails, complimentary hors d’oeuvres and specially priced seasonal martinis such as mango, watermelon and the popular lemonade.
Just in case you’re not up to speed on David’s restaurants, they are part of the Culinary Adventures umbrella. Culinary Adventures was founded in 1996 when restaurateur David joined forces with business mogul John Martin.
The duo has created restaurants that give diners a great sense of fun in a creative, upscale setting.
Culinary Adventures is expanding the French 75 Brasserie concept in the Los Angeles and Scottsdale areas.
One last personal note from me: I’m happy at both restaurants, but if you are sharing an especially romantic time with someone, the entrance to French 75 Brasserie at night, with dozens of massive candles burning in a grand scale entry ambiance, is magical even before you hit the front door.
Rouge: 327 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach; (949) 640-2700.
French 75 Brasserie: 3290 Jamboree Road in the Irvine Market Place, Irvine; (714) 573-7600.
