I'd heard about Fondue Cowboy opening up in the city, and as soon as the word fondue was mentioned I knew I'd have to eat there. I just can't understand why it took me so long. (I do know, it's because sometimes when you want to go eat and that place isn't far away you still think it is because you live on huge hill in SF and don't want to walk home after a giant meal of cheese.) Anyway, I finally made it to Fondue Cowboy and I'm pleased to announce it was everything I hoped for and more.
Now, before you "Melting Pot" lovers jump out of your seats and head to Fondue Cowboy let me first tell you that their menu is limited. This to me is not necessarily a bad thing. I see a limited menu as a way to show patrons the restaurant is focusing on making a few items awesome rather than many items okay. There are five cheesy fondue choices and three chocolatey delicious dessert choices. There are not hot oil, boiling meat choices - go for shabu shabu if you want that. The other issue I'd like to go ahead and nip in the bud, is the complaint I saw on Yelp about how the portions are small. Do you really need to be eating more than 5oz of cheese in one meal? I thought not.
Okay, onto my awesome evening...
I made reservations on OpenTable just in case the place was super hoppin' on a Wednesday night. Bob and I met up with Jay and Staci for a long-time-no-see dinner, so of course we ended up order two bottles of cabernet throughout dinner, delish. We ordered two cheese fondues for the table: The Outlaw (Aged Cheddar, Beer, Slow Roasted Tomatoes, Roasted Garlic, Roasted Jalapeno, Cilantro) and The Rawhide (Italian Dolce Gorgonzola, Emmenthaler, White Wine, Bacon, Roasted Garlic). Both fondues were good, but the Rawhide definitely stood out in my mind because of how rich and creamy it was, plus there was bacon. Each cheese fondue arrives with dippers like: bread, potatoes, broccoli, olives, granny smith apples and gherkins. We went all out and also ordered the cured meats plate (comes with honeydew and cantaloupe), the tenderloin plate, and the sausage plate. It was a meat and cheese extravaganza at our table.
I thought all the dippers for the cheese fondue were great, but I was especially glad we ordered the sausage plate because that night it was Louisiana Hot Links. The combination of the hot links with the Rawhide was heavenly, the perfect complements.
After we'd devoured all our food, and painstakingly scrapped the bottom of the fondue pots to soak up every last bit of cheese, it was time for dessert. We went with the Happy Trails (Dark Chocolate with Cayenne). The dessert fondues come with strawberries, kiwi, banana, pineapple, brownie chunks, marshmallows, and spongy-bready-cookie things. The one dessert pot was perfect for us, and a couple of us enjoyed a nice French Press coffee to go with our dessert.
Total came out to about $200, and about $100 of it was the wine, so really we're looking at about $25 a person for delicious cheesy, meaty, chocolatey fondue. The place is cute and intimate, and the service was great. I had an overall wonderful evening and can hardly wait to return!
Say giddy-up cowboy and gallop over now!
:)Margaret
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