Restaurant Trends: Fondue: Now It's Hip to Dip

Fondue was briefly the rage at trendy cafes in the '70s, but in the intervening decades the pots of bubbling Gruyere have seemed, well, cheesy. Thanks to the Atkins diet, however, cheese has become a stylish health food, and no eatery has done more to raise fondue's gourmet profile than New York City's Artisanal, a shrine to cheese with a dozen fondues on its menu. Now the molten dip is turning up at all sorts of swank spots, including San Francisco's Luna Park, Los Angeles' Vine and New York City's Chateau. Ohba, a fusion restaurant in Chicago, serves lobster tempura with Brie fondue. And in London, celebs such as Kate Moss and Stella McCartney are regulars at the Tiroler Hut, where the fondue is served by women dressed like Heidi. --L.McL.