I dislike writing “we should get together soon” on a thank you note. To me, it’s like one of those things in our culture we’re supposed to say, just like when someone asks you how you are doing? People don’t want you to respond, “not so well right now”.
It was my Aunt’s birthday. I’m lucky if I see her once in a year and I was delighted that we were able to get together for her birthday this year. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to visit Roy Choi’s POT; after all, it’s Choi’s latest addition to the LA dining scene.
POT is located in the hotel, The Line Hotel in K-Town (Korea Town). To avoid traffic and the crowds, I decided on going Saturday for lunch. Not many cars were on the road which made the drive that much more pleasant.
POT is located directly off of the hotel lobby. Looking at it from the lobby, one would think that POT is a hotel bar. The entrance was dark with a simple, bright-green neon sign that read “POT”.
Single seats are available by the prep station, most of the tables were set up for six and a few were set up for two. A modern induction stove was installed in the middle of our table. The seat of the chair is brushed aluminum; my daughter was wearing shorts and it was a bit cold for her.
Some Yelpers complained that the banchan wasn’t complimentary. If that was true, POT has changed that as we were served three orders for our table. I’m used to seeing more variety, but banchan wasn’t the reason we were here.
Terry cloth bibs were given to us by our server. We figured, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” and each of us wore our bibs.
We each ordered a single item to serve and decided to share a hot pot as well. Our server patiently waited as each person named off their dish. Since we’re from the South Bay, we decided to order the “Redondo Beach”: spicy crab, bean sprouts, sesame, onions, nira (chives) and tofu.
Hot pots are available in small, medium and large. Since we ordered quite a bit of food, he suggested going with a small hot pot.
“Kat Man Doo” was steamed dumplings with a dipping sauce. My daughter loves dumplings and this is what she ordered. While they were tasty, there were other items of interest on the table.
The potato pancake arrived fried with a red chile dipping sauce. This was another dish for the folks that were apprehensive of trying something different.
I ordered “Beep Beep” and no, it wasn’t grilled road runner. Fresh sea urchin roe was layered on top of crunchy white rice.
“Poke Me” consisted of yellow fin tuna, edamame, sea beans, maui onions, smoked sesame, and shoyu vinaigrette. Looking at the dish, you wouldn’t know that it was consisted of poke as it was beneath the mound of sea beans.
BBQ Galbi was the favorite of the majority on our table. The plate was served while it smoked away at the table. My daughter and my uncle probably ate the majority of the dish.
The “Redondo Beach” was served smoldering hot and kept that way with the induction stove on our table. Cracking open the crab legs with scissors, this is not the type of dish you order for a business lunch. The broth was full of flavor and was made with a lot of hot pepper paste.
I definitely would like to return as there were quite a few items on the menu that I wanted to try. The charred baby octopus with celery and mizuna sounded good to me. Among the hot pots, I’d like to try the Jamaal Wilkes: silky tofu, shrimp, clams, mussels, kimchi, scallion, pork belly and egg.
I’m glad that I don’t have to write “We should get together soon” on the Christmas card to my Aunt.
- POT inside The Line Hotel
- http://www.eatatpot.com/
- 3515 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, Ca 90010; (213) 368-3030
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eatatpot
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/eatatpot