Fondue at Artisanal

Artisanal
(32nd Street b/w Park and Madison)

When it comes to eating at restaurants, I'm a hands-on kind of gal.  I love yakiniku... sukiyaki... Mongolian BBQ... all of which involve some sort of effort put forth by the eater before the food is cooked, whether it be assembling raw meat and vegetables into a bowl or even cooking one's own food on a grill.  It doesn't bother me one bit that I have to essentially pay to prepare part or all of my own meal - as long as the food tastes good, of course!  Naturally, I also enjoy a nice night out of fondue, every now and then.  My parents brought me to a Swiss restaurant on the night of my high school graduation, where we feasted on cheese, oil, and chocolate fondue all in one sitting, and I've been a fan ever since!

Last night was my first time experiencing the fondue at Artisanal.  I'd been craving fondue for awhile now and my fiance and I finally made it down there to give it a try.  It's a large, crowded establishment and is decorated like your prototype French bistro.  Very cute, but everyone is packed like sardines!  Before last night, I'd been to Artisanal two times prior, and both were for brunch.  The brunch is really scrumptious, by the way!  I've had the almond croissant French toast (the portion is rather small for NYC standards) and the soft scrambled eggs with smoked bacon and crisp potato (amazing!!). 

Similar to brunch, dinner portions are small and almost laughably so.  My fiance is a big guy (practically 6'5) and nothing irks him more when I select a dining venue with small yet pricey portions!  Oops.  To start, we had marinated olives (which I avoided due to my distaste for them) and "grilled cheese bites."  The grilled cheese bites were $7.50 and the plate came with four 1 inch by 1 inch squares consisting of grilled cheese and bacon in between two slices of bread.  No offense, but for a somewhat casual restaurant like Artisanal, I thought they'd at least throw in a full sandwich for that price... not the equivalent of 20% of a sandwich!  Either way, the grilled cheese bites were yummy.

One of the things I liked most about Artisanal was that they offer wine by the taste, not just by the glass or bottle.  A taste is a smaller version of a glass (maybe around half the amount of a regular glass of wine) and is also half the price.  I ordered a taste of Malbec and it was like the portion was made just for me!!  I like having wine every now and then but a full glass tends to be a bit too much for me in terms of taste and yes, I suppose some might say that I am a bit of a lightweight!  Usually I am struggling even after my fiance has signed the bill to finish the last half of my regular glass.  This time, though, I managed to finish my entire taste before the bill even came.  :)  Voila!

Now onto the fondue... we ordered the Artisanal blend cheese fondue.  It comes with little bite-sized cubes of bread.  We also ordered beef tips, apples, and fingerling potatoes to eat with the fondue.  It was YUMMY.  The blend was excellent - the melted consistency was just perfect (gooey but still solid enough to cling onto whatever was dipped into it) and the taste was flavorful but also not too overpowering or stinky.  Ideal for fondue beginners or those who simply prefer a milder cheese.  I highly recommend it!  The beef tips are a MUST.  They were so tender and cooked medium, and they just easily faded into the depths of my mouth as I popped them in.  Again, portions of the beef tips, apples, and potatoes appeared to be pretty small initially... but they were enough to fill us up.  I think this was due to the additional cheese we ate and to the fact that our stomachs had time to get full as we dipped our food into the cheese bite by bite.  The cheese fondue was an A!  Now if only Artisanal offered oil fondue...

For dessert, I really wanted to try the chocolate fondue since I figured this must be their staple dessert.  It wasn't cheap ($24.50), but it was still delicious.  Hey, chocolate is chocolate!  Was it better tasting than other chocolate fondues out there (such as at Max Brenner)?  Not exactly.  Again, the portion was pretty small for the price, but we probably couldn't have eaten anymore at that point!  The chocolate fondue came with fruits to dip (bananas, strawberries, and apricots) and a sampling of cookies, marshmallows and madeleines.  Also, it was a dark chocolate fondue... they don't offer any choices of milk or white chocolate on the menu, unfortunately.

Overall, we enjoyed ourselves very much at Artisanal.  It's a fun place to go with friends (the noise level was pretty high, and not helped much by the fact that everyone was squished so close to each other) and also a great quality place to satisfy your fondue or cheese craving!


M-Stars:
Decor/ambience: 3.5 out of 5 (they've got the French bistro look down pat)
Food: 4 out of 5 (again, the Artisanal cheese fondue was lovely... while the chocolate fondue was like any other)
Service: 3 out of 5
Value: 2.5 out of 5 (small portions but good quality... and besides, how many other fondue restaurants are there in Manhattan to choose from?)
"It" factor: 4 out of 5 (Artisanal has the fondue market share in this city!)
M&M's overall satisfaction: 3.5 out of 5

Bottom-line: We will definitely head back to Artisanal for our next fondue outing, although it probably won't be for another several months (it's not often I crave cheese).  I know they also offer cheese and wine flights, which may be a fun activity down the line!