Authentic Swiss Fondue at Matterhorn

August 22nd, 2007 · By Virginia Miller www.theperfectspotsf.com

Matterhorn
2323 Van Ness Avenue (between Green and Vallejo Streets)
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 885-6116
http://matterhorn.ypguides.net/
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.