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Hours:
Tuesday-Sunday 5-9pm
First requirement for visiting Matterhorn? Must love
cheese! If melted cheese mixed with garlic and wine intrigues,
this is your place. An endless supply of bread is provided for
sopping up the creamy decadence, while sides of sausages, apples or potatoes
($4 each) offer a break from the bread. For $17 per person,
you get fondue, bread and a fresh, tasty salad topped with (or without)
crumbled egg. It’s a reasonable price for what feels like
a feast you can linger over a good couple of hours.
The Highlander, a gruyere/cheddar-based fondue, is
emphatically my first choice, after trying most fondues on the menu over
the years. However, you can’t go wrong with almost
any of them so make your choice with confidence. There are a few
meat fondues, but submerging raw meat in oily broth never sounds as good
to me as melted cheeses swirling in a pot with garlic cloves and white
wine.
There are a few confinements: they close early (usually 9pm), only fondue
is served after 7pm (although why would you come here for anything else?),
and by the time you add drinks (usually two Swiss-German beers available
on tap, bottled beers, wines) and dessert to the mix, it can really add
up. Occasionally, I’ve heard comments on the gruff attitude
of the owners. After over six years dining here, I’ve never
experienced poor service nor felt the manner was anything beyond cultural.
If your stomach can stand any more, you must order the chocolate
fondue to finish. An order “for two” will easily serve
four unless you desire to consume copious amounts of chocolate post-cheese. You’re
given a broad mix of fruits (bananas, strawberries, kiwi, pineapple,
grapes), with marshmallows thrown in for good measure, to submerge in
a rich, chocolate bath. It’s an ending that sends me over
the edge every time. My husband was so eager to clean the ceramic
chocolate fondue bowl on one visit that he mistakenly stuck his finger
in and burnt himself! He’s not made the same mistake twice – though
he has been tempted to.
The building’s 1970’s, pinkish tiled exterior and the hellish
parking scenario (thankfully, valet parking is available) at this end
of Van Ness make for an inauspicious beginning. But the moment
I walk down a hallway lined with delightfully dated posters of various
regions and mountain ranges of Switzerland, then enter the glowing pine
wood warmth of the dining room, I am overwhelmingly comforted. Once
cool beers and hot, melted cheese enter my stomach, I am blissful.
After invigorating, astounding days in the Alps of Switzerland, particularly
the Jungfrau region or gorgeous lakeside towns like Lucerne, I experienced
perfect dinners at places just like this one (minus jovial hofbrau
excess). On this unimpressive block of Van Ness Avenue, Matterhorn magically
transports me straight to Switzerland.
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