Forever Fondue’s new location adds to tasty fare

Fondue had almost been forgotten by modern diners when Forever Fondue opened its doors high above Prospect Street. Now, Forever Fondue has a another location in Mission Valley, and the La Jolla edition has moved to a new location on the other side of Prospect.

This restaurant is a lot more accessible and attractive than the former second-story site, and the local crowd loves it.

Forever Fondue has a very contemporary look, with Venetian glass light fixtures in shades of red and gold shedding a warm glow on every table. It is furnished with gold, upholstered booths and slim, high-backed chairs. Modern artwork covers the walls. In the rear of the main dining room is a handsome bar, where you can enjoy a cocktail and watch a televised ballgame.

The fondue pots sit in the middle of each table, and every guest gets long fondue forks for dunking and cooking the food. As a result, a meal at Forever Fondue is an experience in which getting your food ready to eat is as much fun as eating it.

Some of us remember when fondue parties in private homes were popular pastimes, but Forever Fondue takes the art of fondue to new levels.

Everything is prepared in the kitchen, so you don’t have to do anything but pop your fondue fork in the pot for a couple of minutes. Your server will prepare the cheese fondue mixture right at the table. Just grab your fondue fork to spear your bread, raw vegetables or green apple slices and dunk them into the tasty cheese mix.

Everything is fun at Forever Fondue, but you may agree the best part of the meal is the chocolate fondue for dessert. You can select dark, milk or white chocolate for the base, or opt for one of the other options, which include milk chocolate turtles, butterfinger chunks and white chocolate with Amaretto, just to name a few.

There is a large a la carte menu at Forever Fondue, which allows you to choose one or more courses from a selection that includes salads, cheese appetizers, about eight different entrees and several sinful desserts. The beverage list features everything from tea and coffee to fine wines.

Most diners choose the four-course feast. These fabulous dinners start with a cheese fondue appetizers of your choice. We love the cheddar and blue cheese mix made with sharp Wisconsin cheddar and crumbled blue cheese. A handful of chives is added to the mix at the end.

Other great choices are the European Swiss, a throwback to the original cheese fondue, which boasts cherry brandy for taste, a cheddar with jalapenos providing a Mexican twist to the classic, and cheddar with English mustard and Worcestershire sauce.

They’re all $6 on the a la carte menu, but when ordered as part of the all-inclusive dinner, they’re part of the package.

Another option a la carte is a choice of salad. This is the only non-fondue dish on the menu, but these salads are very good. We tried the house salad and the pear salad ($7.50). Since we ordered from the all-inclusive feast, we were able to select the salad of our choice at no extra charge.

The price of these four-course dinners is determined by your choice of entree. The original fondue entree ($29.50) features filet mignon, marinated teriyaki sirloin, chicken breast chunks, shrimp, salmon, stuffed mushroom caps and vegetables. A vegetarian version is $22.50, and there are two other entree mixtures.

Fondue Fiesta, with carne asada, lobster tail and other ingredients is $30.50, and a seafood combination with shrimp, salmon, scallops, lobster tail, stuffed mushroom caps and vegetables costs $31.50.

The food is cooked in a hot broth, and most items are ready in two minutes. Don’t worry about dropping your food in the pot. The restaurant anticipates that minor glitch by providing you with a slotted spoon to retrieve anything that falls off the fondue fork.

Fondue cooking originated in Switzerland back in the 18th century, but the concept was restricted to a cheese and wine mixture. At Forever Fondue, this cooking technique has become an exciting way to prepare vegetables, meat, fish and dessert.

Now that Forever Fondue is on the ground level, check it out and see for yourself why this delicious and fun-filled way of dining is so popular with La Jollans.

Forever Fondue is at 909 Prospect St. Call (858) 551-4509.