The Red Pot!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

The Red Pot! Before eating here I have heard about this place a lot amongst my friends, and I also witness it make its way to the number 1 spot on the Hot On Yelp List. Seriously, I was really shocked when I saw that The Red Pot beat out Bruxie‘s, and it made me want to try it even more. I remember my brother eating there, and him just telling me how good it was! Trust me I was in uber jealous mood!! It was a Sunday afternoon after our basketball game, probably around 4pmish, we were wondering where to go eat, and I threw out Red Pot, but being Sunday we thought it would be packed. So I called and the girl that answered she said she had 4 tables remaining, with no line, but did expect to become to be busy within the hour. I kid you not, I have never gotten ready that fast in my life! Along with myself, my girlfriend Andreana, brother Rod and cousin Christian joined me on this food venture! The Red Pot has a lot of parking, so it shouldn’t be that hard to find parking, even on packed days. The moment you walk in, your nose goes into a sniffing frenzy, just the many different broths, to the sauces it seriously is a nose adventure! The seating arrangement is nice and spaced out, each table is a round table and able to fit probably 8 to 10 people per table. Its an awesome black granite table, with a heating concoction in the middle of the table, totally reminded me of The Melting Pot. The moment you take your seat, you are greeted and asked on what kind of broth you would like to choose from, you get to choose two different kinds, they do have if I remember about 6-7 kinds of broth. We let my brother handle that since he has eaten here before, we ended up going with herbal, and spicy herbal. After that you of course order your drinks, this is a huge recommendation, get the sweet tea! It is also known as Nuoc Mat, I remember seeing it and I was like “oOoOoO man I seriously hope that is the tea I love”, when they gave our glasses my first sip, it was the tea I have missed and loved! It is really refreshing specially during these California hot days! After that the waiter asked if we have been here before, and if not he goes over the menu and all that stuff. Keep in mind this is AYCE(All You Can Eat) which is rare for a place like this(shabu shabu to be exact). They have a wide selection of things to choose from like..

- Meats: Sliced beef, sliced chicken, sliced pork, sliced lamb, pork stomach(bleh), pork intestine(bleh), pork blood(bleh), beef tripe(bleh), beef tendon, beef ball and quail egg!

- Seafood: Shrimp, shrimp ball, sliced fish, imitation crab, squid ball and mussel

- Vegetables: Spinach, lettuce, fresh corn, baby corn, tofu skin, 3 different kinds of mushrooms, bamboo shoots and seaweed

After you choose what you would like to have, the waiter tells you about the sauce bar. Basically its create your own sauce, or choose from the Sauce Of Fame which has three of the best sauces. Keep in mind, the sauce bar plays a huge part in the delicious-ness of The Red Pot! I went with sauce #2 and seriously amazing! Here is a big hint, don’t use the little bowl they have at the sauce bar, use the small white bowl they give to you at the table, its supposed to be for your rice, but trust me! use it for your sauce because if you use those small little bowl’s the sauce drains out easily, and unless you are super good at doing exact measurements, it is hard to create the same dipping sauce twice gnome saying! When you get all settled down, your waiter comes with a huge pan that is divided in half that holds both of the broths. Following him is another waiter with all the plates of the meats, seafood and vegetables you ordered. When the broth gets there, you wait till it gets a good boil, so that was the perfect time for me to be a tourist and take food photos! Here are some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When all the plates are down, and set around the table seriously it is an awesome presentation as you will see with the pictures! We ended up ordering sliced beef, sliced pork, shrimp, mussel, quail egg, lettuce, bamboo shoots, baby corn and mushrooms. I loved how the meat came out on, it was simply on a plate, but stacked probably 4 layers of meat high! Once the broth boils up, 0OoOoOoO man its on like donkey kong! Here you can take any route you would like, I know we stuck in everything but the meat in first, because they cook longer and pretty much can’t go uber bad if they stay in the broth for a good minute or two. Once you grab your meat, and place it into the broth, seriously its about no more than a minute and it is done! You grab it with your chopstick, dip it into your custom sauce, give it a couple blows, open your mouth, feast….and lastly….ENJOY! Seriously the meat absorbs the broth nicely, the herbal broth was a little bit on the salty side but was good, but even though I am not a big fan of spice and heat, the spicy herbal was the best. It gave anything that was in it, a perfect heat kick. Both meats were really good, not too much fat on them, and just cooked int he broth and then dipped in your sauce its simply amazing. If you really enjoy the broth, make sure to get lettuce, and place that in it, because the lettuce sucks up that broth juice so much, it makes the lettuce packed with flavor! All of the food that is ordered to be placed into the broth, are all really fresh and what not. Its the broth plus your dipping sauce that makes everything Red Pot just enjoyable. Here are some more pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ssp’s Final Thoughts:

Probably the most interesting question asked around the table was from my brother asking the three of us was this….

“So here is the true question, Korean BBQ or Red Pot?”‘

I kid you not, I stopped what I was doing, tilted my head as I thought about it. My answer was….Red Pot!! Both Andreana and Christian agreed with me, but don’t get me wrong I do love my Korean BBQ, but with Red Pot there is so much more you can do. Korean BBQ is really good, but seriously it can get old pretty fast, you just keep eating because that’s all you have and you eat to get full. At The Red Pot, you can change up your sauce, put your meat in the different broth, have a share of vegetables, try different kind of meats. The Red Pot is something I have been craving ever since I have eaten here, and really I cant wait till the next time I get to eat here! A big hint I am sure without a doubt that The Red Pot gets packed, easily! They do accept reservation’s as long as the party is more than 5 people, but can’t be reserved the day of. The Red Pot is a really fun experience, you can see how much fun not just from your party, but from the other parties sitting around you. I will for sure be taking my business to The Red Pot soon, maybe tomorrow who is with me?!?!?!? I hope you all joined my food venture to The Red Pot! Feast well!