Martinis at Bartini, and a 3 Course Dinner at Urban Fondue

Today I am in Los Angeles to help throw my sister’s wedding shower tomorrow. Later, there will be a bachelorette getaway in Montreal, Canada in September. Unfortunately, there is no shindig here in Portland, because I might have proposed some martinis at Bartini. Still, if you have a special occasion coming up soon, you might consider Bartini and Urban Fondue.

Ideally, you will start next door at Bartini. There, you will peruse their menu of 100 martinis and pick one to kick off your date – be it a romantic date or friend date. If like my friend and I, you come after work, you can practically be stealing these martinis at the happy hour prices (half off) making them in the range of $3-4 but still at full price pours! A huge deal!

Bartini atmosphere

The happy starts at 4pm and goes to 6:30pm Tuesday-Saturday and again 9:30pm-close, but is all night on Sunday and Monday.

There are a large variety of martinis to choose from here, for instance:

  • Cosmopolitans varying from Lavender Cosmo, Pomegranate Cosmo to Plum Cosmo, Sparkling Mandarin Cosmo, and Watermelon Cosmo
  • Lemon Drops, varying from Sweet Tea to Violet Lemon to Tuscan Rosemary and more flavors
  • Fresh and Fruity Martinis, including Very Mango, Bird of Paradise (shown below, a combo with coconut rum, mango puree, and pineapple juice and a bit of cinnamon), Hypnotic Strawberry, Peartini, etc with various fruit possibilities
    Bartini, Birds of Paradise martini with coconut rum, mango puree and pineapple juice topped with a dash of cinnamon
  • Aromatic Martinis such as White Elderflower, Ruby Rose, Sweet Nasturtium and a few others
  • Clean and Serene Martinis such as Bellinitinis with 8 possible flavors shaken and topped with champagne, Blue Eyes (with simple vodka, blue curacao and lemon twist), French Kiss or English Cucumber Martini. Below, you see the French Kiss martini, vodka swirled with a hint of strawberry puree and topped with champagne
    Bartini, French Kiss martini, vodka swirled with a hint of strawberry puree and topped with champagne
  • Herb Martinis, varying from Basil Berry and Lemon Basil to Rosemary Grapefruit and Juniper
  • Spicy Martinis, my favorite being the Diablo with habanero pepper infused vodka, passion fruit puree, cilantro and fresh lemon
  • Bold Martinis, which I question how martini they are as they include ingredients like tequila and bourbon in here.
  • Decadent Martinis, which seem to mean desserts turned into martini form, given the list that includes Bananas Foster, Caramel Apple, Chocolate Kiss, Creme Brulee, Key Lime Pie, Oatmeal Cookie, Rainbow Sherbetini, Snickertini etc. The Oatmeal Cookie Martini really is like liquid oatmeal cookie, I can never resist getting one. It’s concocted from butterscotch and Irish creme liqueurs shaken with cinnamon liqueur and cream
    Bartini, Oatmeal Cookie martini with butterscotch and Irish creme liqueurs shaken with cinnamon liqueur and cream

After 1 or 2 martinis, go next door to Urban Fondue where you have made your reservation. Make sure you do make a reservation- you never know if it will be a busy night because of a celebration of an anniversary, birthday, bachelorette party or any girls’ night out.

You can order each fondue a la carte, or you can choose to have a 3 Course Dinner at Urban Fondue that starts with your choice of a cheese, then a broth, and then a dessert fondue. I think the best fondues they offer are the cheese and the chocolate ones, so you can certainly just come here for appetizers or for dessert if you wanted. We ordered the 3 course.
Urban Fondue menu

To start, I recommend the Ruby Port Cheese Fondue with white cheddar, Swiss and Gruyere cheeses, finished with caramelized sweet onions and port wine.
Urban Fondue menu, Ruby Port Cheese Fondue with white cheddar, Swiss and Gruyere cheeses, finished with caramelized sweet onions and port wine Urban Fondue menu, Ruby Port Cheese Fondue with white cheddar, Swiss and Gruyere cheeses, finished with caramelized sweet onions and port wine Urban Fondue menu, Ruby Port Cheese Fondue with white cheddar, Swiss and Gruyere cheeses, finished with caramelized sweet onions and port wine

They have other options of cheese combos, such as a simple smoked cheddar, brie and gorgonzola topped with hazelnuts, tomato basil with smoked cheddar, or a white cheddar with roasted caraway. All yum right? The cheese fondue only comes with bread, but you can add for additional cost extras such as asparagus (which is what we did), mushrooms, sausage, or fruit (pears, grapes, apples).
Urban Fondue menu, Ruby Port Cheese Fondue with white cheddar, Swiss and Gruyere cheeses, finished with caramelized sweet onions and port wine

For the entrees, it is a broth fondue, and you have the choice of 5 different broths and half a dozen kinds of meat/seafood combination plates that you can dip in the broth for cooking, varying from baby lobster tails or Carlton Pork to New York strip loin or Tiger Prawns, and they also have a vegetarian option with tofu and other vegetables. All the meat options do have a few vegetables and a couple raviolis to balance out all the meat and seafood on your plate.

This is nice in that even though you are sharing the broth, you can customize your selection of what you want to eat. It may not look like much when it first comes to the table, but it does add up as you eat each piece 2 at a time (using your 2 skewers). Make sure you use the skewers for dipping in the fondue, and then when it’s cooked transfer it to your other plate that you eat with a fork so you don’t cross-contaminate!

To the left you see the Chef’s Cut entree with thin sliced Carlton pork and local New York strip loin seasoned with marjoram, extra virgin olive oil and spices, and the one to the right is the East Meets West entree with Carlton pork, local breast of chicken, east coast scallops and Tiger prawns.
Urban Fondue, the broth courses with meats you cook. To the left you see the Chef's Cut entree with thin sliced Carlton pork and local New York strip loin seasoned with marjoram, extra virgin olive oil and spices, and the one to the right is the East Meets West entree with Carlton pork, local breast of chicken, east coast scallops and Tiger prawns. Urban Fondue, the broth courses with meats you cook. To the left you see the Chef's Cut entree with thin sliced Carlton pork and local New York strip loin seasoned with marjoram, extra virgin olive oil and spices, and the one to the right is the East Meets West entree with Carlton pork, local breast of chicken, east coast scallops and Tiger prawns. Urban Fondue, the broth courses with meats you cook. To the left you see the Chef's Cut entree with thin sliced Carlton pork and local New York strip loin seasoned with marjoram, extra virgin olive oil and spices, and the one to the right is the East Meets West entree with Carlton pork, local breast of chicken, east coast scallops and Tiger prawns.

When cooking the meat, you want to keep it in the broth for a certain amount of time, so Urban Fondue provides you these cute little hourglass timers to help you keep track.
Urban Fondue, cooking timers for the broth fondue

To further customize the experience, they bring out all these dipping sauces for you to try with your broth cooked meat/seafood. There are a whole bunch of different ones, complimenting the meat and seafood in different ways:

  1. Lime Chili
  2. Wild Mushroom Demi Glace
  3. Bavarian Balsamic Grain Mustard
  4. Au Poivre Peppercorn (really good with the steak)
  5. Thai Peanut Sauce
  6. Blackberry Ketchup
  7. Basil Pesto
  8. Meyer Lemon Hollandaise
  9. Smoked Tomato Aioli
  10. Lemon-Garlic Butter with Parsley and Caper

Urban Fondue menu, dips for the main course, the meat and broth fondue Urban Fondue menu, dips for the main course, the meat and broth fondue Urban Fondue menu, dips for the main course, the meat and broth fondue

I was pretty full but we still had dessert to go! One of the strengths of Urban Fondue is their dessert fondue options- they have almost a dozen options, varying from simple chocolate with whipped cream or chocolate with hazelnuts to more complex chocolate combinations such as a Rocky Road Fondue with chocolate with marshmallow ganache and peanuts, a Heathbar version with chocolates and chunks of Heath bar, Marionberry Cheesecake Fondue with cream cheese with marionberry and lemon puree and graham crackers, or a Caramel Cognac… yeah. We picked the Tiramisu fondue with creamed chocolate swirled with espresso and topped with lady fingers
Urban Fondue, dessert fondue of Tiramisu fondue with creamed chocolate swirled with espresso and topped with lady fingers Urban Fondue, dessert fondue of Tiramisu fondue with creamed chocolate swirled with espresso and topped with lady fingers

One thing Urban Fondue does is do special occasions right- in addition to the normal accompaniments to the dessert for dipping like banana, cheesecake, cookie dough, and pound cake, they brought out a special birthday lit plate that included pretzels, strawberries, more cheesecake and a bit of caramel sauce!
Urban Fondue birthday surprise

So that summarizes a happy hour at Bartini followed by our 3 course dinner experience at Urban Fondue. Thank you S for taking me out for this wonderful dinner for my birthday. Sometimes they have Groupons so be on the look out for that too!

Have you been to Bartini or to Urban Fondue? What do you think you would want to try?

Signature

Urban Fondue

A photo study of some melted cheese, broth dipping, and caramel dipping… and perhaps a few cocktails as well. At Urban Fondue.

To start, a cheese fondue for two of Brie and Gorgonzola, with Brie cheese swirled with Gorgonzola cheese and topped with roasted hazelnuts, and we were given bread to dip with.

Urban Fondue, Portland, fondue restaurant, cheese fondue for two of Brie and Gorgonzola, with Brie cheese swirled with Gorgonzola cheese and topped with roasted hazelnuts

For our broth, we picked Urban Yosenabe, a chicken and clam broth with hints of lemongrass, ginger, sweet chilies and soy. And then we shared the dipping pieces of “East Meets West” with Carlton pork, local breast of chicken, east coast scallops and Tiger prawns, and also the “Lobster & Prawns” with baby lobster tails and Tiger prawns marinated in cilantro, citrus zest and Meyer lemon oil. The amount of time you need to let the dipper on the fondue fork sit in the broth varies depending on whether the item is pork, chicken, seafood or vegetable, and Urban Fondue has a cute little red hourglass timer that lists various suggested times that you can use to make sure you have left it in long enough to cook.

This is critical because perhaps you will also be having wine/cocktails and talking, and it is so easy to lose track of time.  The plate may look small for an entree, but as you cook items perhaps two at a time using your two fondue forks, time passes with conversations as you wait, so the pacing of the meal ensures you savor and enjoy each bite over time rather than rushing, and it becomes an entire dinner experience… but thankfully by going out instead of making this at home you save so much prep work and cleanup work.

We also had a side dish of Gratin yukon potatoes with Parmesan, black pepper and Gruyere cheese. Various dipping sauces you see there include a Pesto, Blackberry Ketchup, Lemon Garlic Butter, Meyer Lemon Hollandaise, Thai Peanut, Wild Mushroom Demi Glace, and Au Poivre Peppercorn. I think there was some sort of citrus chili one as well, but I don’t quite recall. That gratin potatoes dish was so good, we would not let the server take it way until we had spooned up all that cheese as an extra dipping sauce as well.

Urban Fondue, Portland, fondue restaurant, broth fondue, main course fondue, Urban Yosenabe, a chicken and clam broth with hints of lemongrass, ginger, sweet chilies and soy Urban Fondue, Portland, fondue restaurant, side dish of Gratin yukon potatoes with Parmesan, black pepper and Gruyere cheese

Finally, dessert as the light was really fading (and turning yellow- sorry for the poorer quality of photo!) of a Caramel Cognac fondue with cognac swirled in silky house caramel made from scratch, served with banana, strawberry, poundcake, cheesecake, cookie dough, doughnut holes, eclairs, dried apricots

Urban Fondue, Portland, fondue restaurant, Caramel Cognac fondue with cognac swirled in silky house caramel made from scratch, served with banana, strawberry, poundcake, cheesecake, cookie dough, doughnut holes, eclairs, dried apricots Urban Fondue, Portland, fondue restaurant, dessert fondue, banana, strawberry, poundcake, cheesecake, cookie dough, doughnut holes, eclairs, dried apricots

And some cocktails during the meal were also enjoyed. Urban Fondue and Bartini share to offer you the luxurious experience of both fondue and a huge martini bar menu. Some cocktails that evening included (don’t worry, they were not ALL mine)

  • Coconut Mojito-Tini- coconut rum, muddled mint and lime, citrus soda. Refreshing and not overly coconuty
    Urban Fondue, Portland, fondue restaurant, Bartini, martini bar, Coconut Mojito-Tini- coconut rum, muddled mint and lime, citrus soda
  • Luscious Blackberry Cocktail, with Alize Red Passion liqueur, raspberry vodka, fresh mint, lime, blackberry syrup, soda, over ice. I was not expecting it to be pint size.
    Luscious Blackberry Cocktail, with Alize Red Passion liqueur, raspberry vodka, fresh mint, lime, blackberry syrup, soda, over ice. Urban Fondue, Portland, fondue restaurant, Bartini, martini bar, martini
  • Diablo martini, a spicy bite of Habanero infused vodka, passion fruit puree, cilantro, fresh lemon, sugar rim. It really is spicy!
    Diablo martini, a spicy bite of Habanero infused vodka, passion fruit puree, cilantro, fresh lemon, sugar rim, spicy martini, Urban Fondue, Portland, fondue restaurant, Bartini, martini bar, martini
  • Peartini, with vodka, pear puree, sour apple and peach liqueurs was light and refreshing and a bit more subtle than the earlier drinks
    Peartini, with vodka, pear puree, sour apple and peach liqueurs. Urban Fondue, Portland, fondue restaurant, Bartini, martini bar, martini
  • Cloud Nine with coconut rum shaken with dark creme de cacao and hazelnut liqueur, topped with shredded coconut. Favorite of the night, though it is definitely a decadent dessert one to save towards the end
    Cloud Nine with coconut rum shaken with dark creme de cacao and hazelnut liqueur, topped with shredded coconut, martini, Urban Fondue, Portland, fondue restaurant, Bartini, martini bar, dessert martini
  • Oatmeal Cookie, with butterscotch and irish cream liqueurs shaken with cinnamon liqueur and cream did indeed taste like a liquid oatmeal cookie
    Urban Fondue, Portland, fondue restaurant, Bartini, martini bar, Oatmeal Cookie, with butterscotch and irish cream liqueurs shaken with cinnamon liqueur and cream, Urban Fondue, Portland, fondue restaurant, Bartini, martini bar, dessert martini

I hope those pictures make you think about checking out the incredible martinis at Bartini, because I kid you not, they have probably at least 100 martini combinations for you to try, and many happy hour bites besides- great starter for a progressive dinner in the NW Nob Hill area, for instance. Or no need to go anywhere: right next door/part of Bartini is Urban Fondue, and I appreciate that when it even comes to options for cheese, broth, and dessert fondues you are so rich with different options, as they have half a dozen cheese combinations and “dip into the broth” plates to choose from and a dozen dessert fondues, each unique in flavor profile, with lots of additional add-ons possible for dippers.

Urban Fondue is participating in Portland Dining Month, though note there is an upcharge if you order an entree with lobster like we did. But maybe, just like us, you will get extremely intrigued by the beverage menu… Make your Portland Dining Month reservations via OpenTable so that Downtown Portland will also make a donation to the Oregon Food Bank if you go this month!

Check out my other Portland Dining Month escapades: I ate at Quartet, Accanto, Urban Fondue, Fratelli, H50 out of my initial list!

Signature