The Melting Pot Beginning

  (Names may be changed to provide anonymity to individuals - The names of all places, businesses, and services remain true to fact)   The move, like any move might, had stressed us to the brink of our limits, so I decided that we needed a date to blow off some steam. It’s important to share mutually new experiences with your spouse on occasion. It becomes an adventure that you share more deeply because it belongs to both more equally - neither being more experienced than the other in the endeavor. When we arrived it seemed that their staff were a little stand-offish about seating. Since I’d never been I didn’t initially understand what they were talking about, and they seemed to expect us to know a few critical pieces of information about their restaurant. They told us that we’d need a reservation to be seated. One of the servers (Taylor) told us that there was open seating in the bar dining area, and one of the hostesses quickly chimed in that we were required to order the full course meal to sit there. We had no idea what this meant…

  We agreed and were seated by Annie who turned out to be our server. I don’t want to spoil it too much for you if you’ve never been, but I’ll tell you a few things are important to know about this restaurant:

1. The menu makes things look like they’ll be expensive individually, but really aren’t. 2. You’re not required (regardless of the hostess’ quips) to order all courses just to sit down. 3. The servers are much more personable and polite than the seating staff. 4. There’s plenty of parking if you’re willing to walk a block to make it work, or there’s valet parking available.

  We chose to go ahead and try the full set of courses thinking it would be pretty expensive. Expensive… Eh, we needed to relax anyways so we ordered a bottle of wine and got to trying to figure out the mildly uninformative menu. It turns out that one set of courses can be shared by two people reasonably and that you can bundle the costs by purchasing the entire set of courses. Sesame avocado salad was our lead dish and was delicious. It had sesame, lemon, avocado, spinach, mixed greens and more that I can’t remember now. The flavors blended to make a great char taste that I’d never experienced before and really enjoyed. I finished mine and my wife’s, lol… The next course was a cheese pot mixture that came with bread, apples, and veggies. Yes, I said apple. I was taken aback by the suggestion of apple and cheese! That being said, it was delicious. Who’da thought?   As we sat there in our booth looking around we felt tickled by it’s structure and design. It had a nice aesthetic, being both rustic and modern. The front view was provided through large garage-like bay doors that did more to add to the shabby chic design than detract. Through them we looked out to the city. It was a quaint view and typical of such cities so I asked Aleksandra (my wife) to come sit next to me on my side of the booth to enjoy it with me. There’s a certain dilemma one has while dining with their ‘other’. Do you sit across from each other and keep a cold distance so that you can look each other in the eye? Or, do you sit next to each other so that you can feel their warmth and touch, but sacrifice their visage? I usually opt for mixing both because I adore getting the best of all experiences. I’m a bit of a natural lush for pleasure in general. That being said, the fireplace was a nice touch for a natural pleasure lover such as myself.

  Sometimes we get a little bored just sitting around so we informed Annie we were going on a walkabout. I sometimes feel a very slight twinge at telling a server we’re going to explore their building because I’ve heard stories that folks sometimes use excuses like these to ‘dine and ditch’ on them. Some places have, in the past only I hope, put the onus of responsibility for this on the server themselves. I certainly hope that this is illegal now. Consider it… The server can’t stop someone from leaving so how could they possibly be held responsible for the leaving??? Anyways, we stood, stretched our legs, and prepared to find what awaited within the depths of this comfortably dim building - we aren’t fans of dining in brightly lit venues so the ambience was perfet. We walked all over and enjoyed the layout. It provides a ‘nooks and cranny’ feel that I look for from larger buildings such as this one. There is both up and downstairs dining, private party areas and common room dining, and it feels comfortable and inviting. While the booths are all partitioned to afford privacy (only beyond the bar which is very open), the upstairs seating felt far more secluded. The building is a nice brick and some of the artwork doesn’t match the general flavor of the business. Overall, we liked the location.

  The main course was a pot of veggie stock that was delicious! The morsels meant for boiling in the stock were mostly bitesize, a little better than subpar, and there was a flight of sauces to go with them. Our only complaint with the sauces was that they were too sweet. Otherwise, it was pleasant and easy eating. Another convenience The Melting Pot could offer is some type of container to take the stock home. Almost all of it was wasted and Annie (our server) mentioned that this is a frequent request. Seems to me like management isn’t listening to customer demand in this case.

  We mentioned to Annie that we’d just moved from Florida and were excited to see what The Pacific Northwest had to offer. She was excited for us and made us a list of places to see. They all sounded pretty great and we didn’t want to forget them so we designated a small pocket sized book in which to write down all of our potential adventure ideas. So here’s how it works: We take notes on potential adventures, we visit the venue, and catalogue our experiences at each destination in the form of a dated blog. What’s really nice about it for us is that we’re active folk so it also serves as a memory journal for each adventure time.

  The Melting Pot isn’t done yet… The total cost wasn’t bad, just eighty some for all courses and a full bottle of wine. The major problem was that we were double-charged for our meal. We called that night and were promised a return call (Friday), no call came; we called Saturday and were promised a return call, no call came; we called Sunday, we were told we’d receive a call Monday, no call came; we called again on Monday and were met by the voice of an indifferent manager who absently and impatiently assured us we’d possibly receive our money back that day, we didn’t. We finally received our refund for the double-charge on Wednesday with not one apology or mention of compensation for the trouble. I personally didn’t expect that. I have a rule for dealing with the business blunders that inevitably come from being an American consumer: be awesome, patient, and just don’t come back if you’re treated poorly. It’s important to remember that those that are the rudest or most apathetic need our kindness and connection the most.

  We will be back at least once. We didn’t eat our desert course, and were given a convenient ticket to come back and enjoy it later. It’s a pretty great convenience and shows that, despite the troubles The Melting Pot has currently given us, that somewhere in the company someone’s listening. Let’s hope they fix the rest of their issues. After going back to redeem our dessert ticket and blow off some steam, we were ready to give it a rating. First, we’re taking off a half a star for the pushiness and demanding demeanor of the hostesses; second, we’re taking off a half-star for the way our double charge was handled; next, we’re taking a half a star for the inability to take home the tasty veggie stock we paid for; finally, we’re left with three and a half stars for the positive portions of the visit.

  About the food in general we’d say that it’s not amazing, but certain parts definitely stand out as tasty. 3.5 stars seems right in this case. We’re looking forward to our next adventure and plan to write about all sorts of experiences. We’ll catch ya next time.

The Initial Move

  Upon entering Oregon we started feeling a sense of arrival. What exactly we mean by that is that we started feeling a sense we’d never had before in the states, Home. I’ve lived in Indiana, Connecticut, Virginia, and Florida; my wife has lived in Florida and Uzbekistan. This was different than places we’d been. One of the first things we noticed was that roads were plotted reasonably, were better maintained, and had far less pollution on them than we’d seen other places. We’d certainly know at that point, we’d just driven from one corner of the country to the other.

  While it’s true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Florida swamp held no comparable aesthetic pleasure in any nook or cranny that we’d witnessed. It’s a shame that so much of our lives were spent there as we’ve never been a fan of heat, sticky-humidity, swamp, uncontrolled insectile infestations seasonally, or the close-minded crowd that the Pan Handle had to offer. Southern Hospitality is, in fact, a myth I’ve never seen validated. The folks we encountered were more often friendly on our journey West than we’d become accustomed to in the South.

  We were bound not for Oregon, but for the state beyond it’s borders to the Northwest. We felt a small sense of concern and trepidation upon leaving Oregon. we were concerned that Washington would turn out to be a lesser state. I’m glad to say that we’ve loved it since we arrived and that the concern/trepidation we’d felt was for naught. Our arrival to the area just South of Tacoma was an interesting one. We noticed that there are often begging posts at the top of most highway exits. While this can be be disheartening and cause negative area reviews from some folks, I realized this was a sign the local police allowed the unfortunate to request help from their fellow man. Many areas frown on those who have the misfortune to fall prey to unhappy circumstance and make their lives even worse by harassing and often evicting them from the few places that can keep them warm or benefit them in other ways. Not here.

  A couple short Googles away and we were trying hard not to squeal with delight at how many scenic areas, unique venues, and exciting new experiences awaited us within such short distance. This isn’t mentioning how anxious we felt at the thought of getting out into the gorgeous wilderness that surrounded us at every turn. I said at one point, “I feel like we’re driving through a faery tale.” As we nerded out at the seemingly endless possibilities an event happened that changed our approach to planning the coming adventures.