"For hot pot in San Gabriel I go to Shancheng Lameizi, a Beijing chain where the soup bases and all the ingredients are on point; they give nice snacks and appetizers like peanuts and other crunchy things, and I always look forward to the puffed-fried pastry they hand out. They even have a dessert bar with white lotus seed soups, bing su, and iced clear jelly with brown sugar to help alleviate the spice, and their nine-grid hot pot offers that many different soup bases — it’s my go-to hot pot." - Matthew Kang