Review: Let Little Q Hot Pot Warm You this Winter
It’s getting to be that time of year that I want to steam my sinuses over something delicious. If it’s good for me and fun, too, well that’s a couple of bonuses.
I’ve been reading a lot about bone broth and its nutritional benefits. A lot of folks don’t just save a turkey carcass for frugality; they let it steep away in the crock-pot for a couple of days to make a bone broth rife with collagen and beneficial minerals that have been touted to aid digestion, joint health, immune system and even the reduction of cellulite. Where am I going with all of this? Straight to East Arlington’s Little Q Hot Pot.
A foodie friend told me years ago that Little Q had the best Chinese takeout in town. I know she’d not make that claim lightly, so we gave it a shot.
Sure enough, when you enter the restaurant, the first thing you note is not the stale, old oil smell of fried everything; it’s the heady perfume of five-spice powder and ginger.
Stay … and heat up
The other major standout is a big conspicuous hole in the center of each dining table. Sure, go ahead and get the unmatched takeout. On our recent visit, we watched a dozen orders come and go. But we stayed for the hot pot. The black bone chicken broth hot pot.
When you order the hot pot, get some help figuring out what you want with it. You have more than 80 choices.
We wanted to sample a variety, so we chose the Special Plate. On that were portions of paper-thin, sliced beef and lamb, some seafood, some veggies and dumplings and noodles for two.
First, some boiled peanuts and pickled cabbage arrive. I’m sure these are to add texture and dimension to your bowl later, but we nibbled on them anyway. Then your steaming bowl of broth fills that gaping hole in your table, and your server cranks up the heat under it. The broth seems rather tame at first with some floating green onion, cilantro and spice pods, but once it comes to a rolling boil, big coins of ginger and whole garlic cloves swim by just begging for company.
Each guest also receive cooking utensils — ladles with and without draining holes (for straining and scooping broth, respectively) and a larger D-shaped basket for immersing a bowlful of noodles. I’m sure there is a proper way to do all this, but the fun part is, you can do the rest any way you like. I filled my personal bowl with some cilantro and broth, added a little chili paste, which we requested, and started dropping items into the communal pot.
The meat is done in seconds, and enoki mushrooms wilt immediately, too. I used the ladle with holes to fish these out and add them to my broth. Shrimp takes only a few seconds longer, and the bak choi seems to like that timing as well. This time, I ladled them out to replenish my personal soup. Adding a couple of peanuts and some of that tangy pickled cabbage, I had some really wonderful concoction that evolved with each ladle.
My favorite
I think my favorite item might have been the lamb, which was tender and flavorful. Next time, I may order this with some more exotic vegetables and definitely more noodles, but that’s what a sampler is for — picking your favorites, right?
We got the cellophane noodles, because of my wheat intolerance, but Shandong and udon are also available. Somehow I always find steaming noodles to be nurturing and luxurious when the temperature dips. I’d also recommend trying the “fish noodle,” which is like a mousse that comes in a pastry bag of sorts that you squeeze directly into the broth. More fun!
In deference to my friend, the rest of the menu looks great, too, and at the first sign of the sniffles, this is going to be my one-stop soup-shopping site. There are also about 10 other entrees that I want to try.
Today my sinuses are clear, my digestion seems content, my joints were up for some five-pound weights on my morning walk and my cellulite, well, that’s none of your business. But the next time some foodie friends want to get together and try something entirely different, I’ll suggest taking the chill of winter off, and heading for the Little Q Hot Pot to huddle ’round some fragrant broth, pour each other’s hot sake cups and cook our own bowls of health and happiness. Just the way we like ’em.
Little Q Hot Pot and Szechuan House
196 Mass. Ave., Arlington
Website
Hours:
Sunday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Friday, Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Pricing: $ (on scale of 1 to 4 dollar signs)