{"id":563,"date":"2012-02-04T19:15:03","date_gmt":"2012-02-04T23:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/?p=563"},"modified":"2012-02-06T11:28:31","modified_gmt":"2012-02-06T15:28:31","slug":"hot-pot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/?p=563","title":{"rendered":"Hot Pot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Hot Pot at XO Taste\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VrLPHghCHq0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I was first introduced to hot pot a few years back by my roommate Nick. \u00c2\u00a0For the uninitiated, hot pot, does, as the name suggests, involve a hot pot. \u00c2\u00a0On the table, you have a pot of broth or oil (or both) simmering away into which you dip all manner of raw veggies, meats, and seafood. \u00c2\u00a0As the dipped food cooks, it\u00c2\u00a0absorbs the flavor of the broth. \u00c2\u00a0Personally, I can&#8217;t get enough of anything cooked in the spicy broth that imparts a slow satisfying burn. \u00c2\u00a0Not only is hot pot delicious, but it&#8217;s fun&#8211;a great time for everyone seated around the table. \u00c2\u00a0True interactive eating. \u00c2\u00a0So when a group of co-workers decided to \u00c2\u00a0it was time to head down to Chinatown for some of this stuff I had to say yes.<\/p>\n<p>Our dining\u00c2\u00a0location\u00c2\u00a0was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yelp.com\/biz\/xo-taste-manhattan\">XO Taste<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0What I first noticed about the place was it&#8217;s size. \u00c2\u00a0The dining room is\u00c2\u00a0spacious and well lit, the tables far enough apart that you don&#8217;t feel on top of your neighbor. \u00c2\u00a0 The hot pot was in an all-you-can style, including non-alcoholic beverages,\u00c2\u00a0appetizers, the hot pot (of course), and desert for just $27.<\/p>\n<p>We were fortunate to have Sarina, and her\u00c2\u00a0impeccable Chinese language skills, to guide us through the ordering and describe items as they came out. \u00c2\u00a0 The first wave of food, served as the pots worked their way up to a simmer, were fried dumplings and a scallop dish. \u00c2\u00a0 The dumpling were good, better than the standard affair&#8211;more crispy with big pieces of ingredients inside. \u00c2\u00a0The scallop came in a way I&#8217;ve never encountered before: on the half-shell with a layer of mayo and covering of melted cheese. \u00c2\u00a0XO tasty, I would say, and incredibly rich.<\/p>\n<p>The food rolled out in waves of beef, pork, veggies, and fish. \u00c2\u00a0One of my\u00c2\u00a0favorite items were what Sarina called omega balls. \u00c2\u00a0Similar to dumplings, the casing is made from fish skin, these balls pack a strong fishy flavor.\u00c2\u00a0We ate and ate until we could eat no more. \u00c2\u00a0We were,\u00c2\u00a0tragically, beyond satiated before we got into the real seafood portion of the buffet. \u00c2\u00a0And then came desert. \u00c2\u00a0Bowls of ice cream (green tea, red bean, and vanilla were passed around), a Chinese custard (picture a gelatinous falan), a hot red bean dish, and a peanut sesame past dumpling (a\u00c2\u00a0fantastically\u00c2\u00a0savory dessert).<\/p>\n<p>I have to admit that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thebesthotpot.com\/\">Little Lamb Hot Pot<\/a> in the Flushings Chinatown still leads as my belly&#8217;s number one love for hot pot. \u00c2\u00a0In fairness to XO Taste, I didn&#8217;t get really try their seafood. \u00c2\u00a0Even with seafood aside, Little Lamb seemed to have a wider array of vegetables\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0proteins, in addition to having a sauce bar where you came invent concoctions in which to dunk your freshly cooked treats. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0But, all-in-all, XO is good, cheap, fun, and conveniently\u00c2\u00a0located. \u00c2\u00a0I see return trips to XO in my future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was first introduced to hot pot a few years back by my roommate Nick. \u00c2\u00a0For the uninitiated, hot pot, does, as the name suggests, involve a hot pot. \u00c2\u00a0On the table, you have a pot of broth or oil (or both) simmering away into which you dip all manner of raw veggies, meats, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[52,24,49,116],"class_list":["post-563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dining-out","tag-asian","tag-chinatown","tag-chinese","tag-hot-pot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}