Looking for a Good Melt, SF Weekly Bumps Into Fondue Fred

In the days that follow, I try two more fondues. There's the goat cheese fondue ($8.50) at Luna Park (694 Valencia, 553-8584), served with sliced green apples and chunks of buttered, grilled bread – an unusual and especially tasty touch. I realize while walking there that I've forgotten to bring reading material, so I stop in to snag a book at Community Thrift across the street, where I spy a metal fondue set complete with pot, stand, and five glass-bead-topped forks for $7.60. Luna Park's dish is nice enough, but it still strikes me as more of a sauce than a thick, satiny fondue. When I try the Cambozola cheese fondue ($10) at the small-plates place Andalu (3198 16th St., 621-2211), served with thin slices of green apple and Asian pear, and four slices of French bread toasted to Melba consistency (I prefer using the untoasted baguette served with butter on the side), I like the hint of blue cheese flavor, but the texture of the dish is much the same.

For my last foray into the world of fondue, I try Melt, which appears to be, from its somewhat breathless Web site, an all-things-to-all-people casual North Beach hangout: free Wi-Fi, projected movies, open-mike nights, trivia contests. When I arrive, in fact, it's movie time, and the unmistakable tones of Sterling Hayden ("precious bodily fluids") tell me it's Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. The tiled floors, little wooden tables and chairs, sandwich names chalked on a blackboard, and refrigerated case containing chocolate cake, carrot cake, and chocolate mousse cake read standard cafe. But the special mulled wine hits the spot.

I'm happily surprised when the small fondue turns out to be the real deal: It's as heady, fragrant, thick, and characteristically elastic as the elusive fondue of my dreams. The side salad that comes with it is a heap of tender baby greens. We also get red and green apple wedges, green grapes, and good cubed French bread. I can't get over how delicious and satisfying — and unexpected — this fondue is. It encourages us to quaff a couple more glasses of the mulled wine — a precious fluid indeed. And as we exit onto the chilly street, my friend bemoans the fact that the day's showers have ended, because that would be a perfect meal for a rainy day. But I'm not saving Melt for a rainy day: if it's that good with the classic, I'm eager to try its Welsh rarebit variations.