When storms pummel Los Angeles, the best thing to do to stay warm is gather friends and family for a meal of hot pot. This typically communal way of dining can be anything you want it to be: strictly vegetarian, fiery and spicy or mellow and comforting. Hot pot spans across Asia with a flurry of ingredients, unique broths and cooking methods that reflecta variety of cultures.
In Japan, hot pot is all about simplicity, quality ingredients and family time. Sayuri Tachibe, the owner of Pasadena’s Osawa Shabu Shabu & Sushi, fondly remembers having hot pot at home during her childhood in Japan. It’s something she’s also passed down to her son, Sho Emerson, who is the maitre d’ at Osawa. “Hot pot is a fun family experience,” Emerson says, adding that “it’s the act of cooking and being together.”
For chef Vanda Asapahu of Ayara Thai, hot pot was a way to continue providing her community with nourishing food during the pandemic.
“I asked myself, ‘What do Thais eat outside besides street food?’ We wanted to find experiences people can enjoy outside,” she explains. On a trip to the Thai grocery store LAX-C in Chinatown, she and her family spotted a rack of Thai moo krata, or hot pot pans, and decided to buy them all. They found their COVID comfort food, and the hot pots double as outdoor heaters.
“Moo krata is such a communal thing,” Asapahu says. “You don’t want to eat moo krata with people you don’t love.”
Shabu shabu and moo krata merely scratch the surface of all the varieties of hot pot available in Los Angeles. There’s mouth-numbing Chongqing hot pot, luxurious all-you-can-eat Wagyu hot pot and a Korean take on hot pot that is cooked in a paper pot. Next time a storm blows in, these are the places to take loved ones to for a warming meal.
