Taureau Fondue

Taureau NYC Bistro Francais Moderne takes the idea of a fondue restaurant and turns it on its head.  With a small, sophisticated room on 7th street in the East Village, the key to this place are the funny looking little tables.  When I sat I initially thought they had bought old tables with video games in them or something; then it quickly dawned on me that each tabletop was an induction heating unit.  Fondue with out the fondue pot!  Instead the fondues are served either in a stainless steel double boiler type bowl which kept our cheese fondues perfectly hot and gooey without ever sticking or burning.  For meat fondues the hot oil works just as well (Canola Oil is the defacto oil, but for a few more dollars you can have extra virgin olive oil or peanut oil or a number of other options).

In the picture above you can see the table and down below are my poorly lit attempts at showing you the tabletop and it's workings.  I put a candle in the center of the induction unit to try and get better light, which was not a very successful move, but nonetheless...

 

Neil and I went last night for my birthday so I wasn't really taking notes, but they offer 10 different kinds of cheese fondues and several meat options.  Every fondue comes with a simple delicious salad and croutons, which are endlessly refillable.  Vegetables, fruits and cured meats are also available to order for dipping.  Dark, milk and white chocolate fondues are offered for dessert.  We had two cheese fondues: the 90 day old Swiss and the Perigord, a truffle infused delight.  We opted for broccoli, gherkins and fingerling potatoes as additional things to dip.

Below is the tray of dried and fresh fruit, crystallized ginger, candied nuts and banana cake that came with our dark chocolate fondue.

 

Taureau is a BYOB and cash only restaurant and there is no corkage fee for the wine you bring!  No matter what you think about fondue restaurants you have to go here:  it's my new favorite place to eat in the East Village.