Mint Downtown Thai

Mint Thai is located at 732 4th right near Horton Plaza.  The don't have a gluten free menu, but the staff is knowledgeable and happy to provide a limited set of gluten free choices.  I had lunch at Mint Thai in Feburary of 2012, and although the food was OK, it was not the most exciting or spicy Thai food I've ever had.  On the other hand, I haven't been to a Thai restaurant that could accommodate gluten free in 10 years.

The lunch menu was quite reasonably priced with entrees ranging from $7 to $9.  The service was quick and the interior was nicely decorated.  Pictured at right, I tried the chicken pad thai, with a deep fried spring roll, soup and a salad.  Unfortunately, the soup was delivered cold, and the salad was made of iceberg lettuce.  Overall it was a tasty meal, and I would recommend it if you need to eat lunch downtown on a budget.  I don't think I would recommend it for dinner because the prices double, and I doubt the flavor does as well.

The Melting Pot

I went to the melting pot in march of 2012 to celebrate a friends birthday. We found it to be a tasty and memorable experience, although at 50 dollars per person it was somewhat expensive. It was certainly a great place to celebrate a special occasion.  The melting pot is a fondue restaurant and they have burners built into each table to cook the fondue and keep it hot.  They have a gluten free menu, and they readily accommodate gluten intolerance.

Fondue is something that is meant to be shared, and there are only two burners on each table, so you need to go with at least one guest who also wants to eat gluten free. The fondue consists of four courses: a cheese fondue, a salad, an entree, and a dessert.  A classic fondue consists of dipping bread into molten cheese, but the melting pot does not supply gluten free bread and rather supplies extra vegetables. The entree is a flavorful broth in which you cook meat, potatoes and mushrooms. Both the cheese and entree are prepared in front if you buy the waiter. The desert we tried was called a flaming turtle, and it consisted of molten chocolate, caramelized pecans and flaming bacardi 151. Normally I skip dessert, but in this case the flaming chocolate, pictured above, was the most exciting part of the meal.