Day 89: Weekend Report, Part 2

ANATOMY OF AN AUTHENTIC HOTPOT EXPERIENCE (from top left to right then down from left to right, although I'm really not sure how this is going to look on screens other than my own; oh well, try to follow along):

On Sunday, The Husband and I trekked all the way down to Chinatown for HOTPOT! The occasion was a birthday lunch for Alyna, The Husband's friend from college, and she mandated no kids due to the potential for knocked over cauldrons of boiling soup. The venue was (1) Lao Sze Chuan, a well known Szechuan Chinese restaurant widely regarded as one of the city's best, located at the end of a big retail mall on Archer Avenue; (2) the platter brought to the table was covered with an assortment of raw fish (sole), shellfish (mussels and prawns), squid, fish balls (the white ones are fish cake and the orange ones are shrimp), and fermented soy products (firm tofu and tofu skins); (3) then, came the meat -- thinly sliced and deeply marbled lamb, as you see here, as well as thinly sliced beef -- and a bowl of rice noodles; (4) on the side, we received a plate of hacked up chicken with a gingery sauce that reminded me of a dish I've only seen in Hawaii called Ginger Chicken; (5) the amazing bubbling hotpot itself!; (6) Tony Hu, the owner of Lao Sze Chuan and hotpot lover. Whew!

Here's how it works:

First, you sit down at a round table in the center of which sits a portable cooktop. The waiters bring a pot, which in our case was divided into two equal halves -- one side contained spicy soup, or "base" as they were calling it, and one side contained non-spicy base. (I believe it's mostly chicken stock.) The flame goes on and, as the soup begins to boil, you are supposed to ever-so delicately place raw items into the pot. The Husband and I were sitting at the table with Pete, Alyna's husband, who acted as the resident expert. "Contribute and take," he commanded. "It's Communist food." (That second part might have been a little joke.)

Then, you eat and eat and eat, drinking beer the whole time and laughing and talking and getting to know your fellow hotpotters. It's fun! And, YUMMY, especially the lamb and the sole. I like it spicy.


QUOTES FROM THE GUESTS ABOUT HOTPOT AND WHETHER THEY LIKE IT SPICY OR NON-SPICY:

-- Alyna said, "It's fun." Spicy.
-- Angela said, "Great winter meal." Spicy.
-- Ian said, "Excellent!" Spicy, though he likes it "both ways."
-- Rena said, "Let them eat cake, which in this context means it satisfies a whole lot of different sentiment." (I may have not gotten that down quite right as it makes no sense to me now.) Non-spicy.
-- When asked, "What's your take on hotpot?" Stratford said, "What's that?" Spicy.
-- Minal said, "I ordered the hot-and-sour rice noodle soup," which she found "really hard to eat."
-- Elise said, "I enjoyed it. I had no idea what it was. It's not like dim sum at all." Spicy.
-- Iyanda said, "It was good. I liked it, the idea of cooking my own food, picking what I want." Spicy.
-- Gigi said, "Yummy. I didn't know what to do with the sauces. I really liked the lamb and the shrimp balls." 50-50 Spicy and non-spicy.
-- Bob said, "Great gathering place. Make food with your friends." (He probably spoke in full sentences but it's not in my notes. Sorry, Bob!) 80 percent spicy, 20 percent non-spicy.
-- The Husband was too busy eating and talking to Bob. (To be honest, I forgot to interview him, which he pointed out, a little dejectedly, during the car ride home.)

Tony, who moved to Chicago from Chengdu, in southwestern China, said this about hotpot: "In 1993, the last meal I had in China was hotpot. My friends came to my house. One group ate hotpot; one group played mahjong; one group did karaoke; and one group played cards. Then, we would switch places. For 24 hours!"

Tony's tips for cooking and eating hotpot:
-- Lamb, beef cooks for 20 seconds.
-- Seafood for 5 minutes.
-- Vegetables for 3 minutes.
-- "Use the baskets to go fishing," Tony said, gently chiding us for using our personal chopsticks in the communal hotpot. He's referring to lightweight wire baskets with long handles; each person gets one. Mine became hopelessly encrusted with chili peppers and rice noodles; I am clearly no hotpot savant. More than once, we fished out a basket that had sunk to the bottom of the hotpot. Yuck.
-- Sesame sauce traditionally goes with lamb. Used in northern China.
-- BBQ sauce is Taiwanese.
-- Garlic sauce, which is basically mashed roasted garlic, is Szechuan and the only sauce Tony used for a long time before he tried others.

These are the egg custard tarts at Saint Anna Bakery & Cafe (Chinatown Square, 2158 S. Archer Ave.; 312-225-3168). I can't pass them up when I see them and these were fresh from the oven. They were actually too hot to eat (they don't taste like much until they've cooled), but I ate one anyway. And bought two more. Ate those too. YUMMY.