With the influx of Sichuan restaurants popping up all over Los Angeles, the Chinese food scene has been saturated with a plethora of ma la numbing spice dishes like toothpick lamb and water boiled fish. Restaurateur Vincent Lu, originally from Guangdong, however is breaking away from that pack and bringing a traditional Sichuanese specialty dish that is not readily seen outside of China. Spicy Kit
chen, patrons grab an ordering slip and choose between the original bone broth (which is a light milky soup broth) and the spicy Chengdu mara tang, which is a thick, bright red spicy oily broth made with chilies, red oil, Chinese peppers, and Chinese spices with the numbing "ma la" flavor. The mara tang soup bases are all free, but you need to choose at least five items off the checklist menu. Each item has a listed price. Ingredients to choose from include sliced beef, lamb, potato, noodles, enoki mushroom, and tofu, among others. There are also two dipping sauces that are supposed to enhance the taste of the soup: spicy chili pepper dipping sauce and sesame oil with mashed garlic sauce. In addition to the ox bone broths, H.O.T. Spicy Kitchen also serves a number of different dry pots, appetizers, and desserts. While it's safe to say the specialty is the mara tang, the Chinese style fried buns with condensed milk make for the perfect dessert.
