
Lao Sze Chuan Hot Pot for Chinese New Year in Chicago Chinatown.
Last week, to celebrate the Chinese New Year, I met up with some friends for a Lao Sze Chuan hot pot dinner in Chicago Chinatown.
Chinese New Year, AKA Spring Festival, is a holiday that celebrates the turn of the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. It’s traditionally celebrated in February, about a month after New Year New Year.
The hot pot, which I’ve never done before, involved cooking meats in boiling liquids (we did one side mild and the other hot and spicy), which was delicious and weird, and terribly messy… There were mussels and shrimp and meatballs and beef and chicken and tripe. There were vegetables and dipping sauces. And some pot stickers. Because you always should get pot stickers.
Happy New Year!