#11 Boiling Point
Posted on March 17, 2007
Filed Under Chinese, Taiwanese | 5 Comments
Who remembers the 1993 movie “Boiling Point” starring Wesley Snipes and Dennis Hopper? No? Good, ’cause THIS PLACE is where your mind should jump to when you hear “Boiling Point” from now on.
It’s a little place, but well decorated and has its charms. The chairs slide on tennis balls.
Here’s the deal. It’s Taiwanese hot pot. Not just hot pot, STINKY TOFU hot pot.
Awww yeah! I’m the kind of guy whose mouth waters at the mention of stinky tofu. But if you haven’t been Pavlov trained for it, here’s a quick background on Stinky Tofu: It’s fermented tofu, and it stinks like rotten food, but it’s a good kind of stink, okay? Like, your mind knows it smells bad, but you just want another whiff of it.
You don’t cook in a communal pot, but each person gets a mini pot with its own wax-based fire underneath. There’s 7 or 8 different pots you can choose from.
I picked the spicy beef pot, and the Kwans, the lovely hard core foodie couple I was third wheelin’ with, picked a Stinky Tofu pot and a Lamb pot. It’s a very reasonable $8.99 for a pot, and there is half a wall’s worth of additional vegetables, oddities and hard core deviant hot pot items you can order, all at $2-$3 a plate.
I saw extra stinky tofu and pork intestines and couldn’t pass it up. You can see them sitting in the background, eager for their turn in the hot pot.
The really cool thing that earned the place a special place in my heart was the house Hot Bean Paste, they made it themselves and it kicks everything into hyperdrive. They also have a garlic sauce which is a perfect compliment to the intestines and the pork blood cake that’s coming up.
We also got extra tofu skin and pork blood cake, which is blood with rice added in. It has a nice subtle flavor and doesn’t taste like blood at all.
This place was grrrreat. Chinese / Taiwanese Hot Pot is fun and tasty to start out with and the stinky tofu pushes it up the scale of greatness. Toss in some deviant items like pork intestines and blood cake, I’m a man with a big smile all night.
It’s a great place for a small group. Bring two or three friends, order different pots for variety and a bunch of extras to share, it’ll be great fun.
Our waiter earned big brownie points when he told me I can stand on the chair to take pictures. I just got my business card yesterday and just had to hand one out to him. Thanks for letting me take pictures, and thanks for visiting the site!
Boiling Point has two locations:
Monterey Park
153 Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91755
626.288.9876
Hacienda Heights
2020 Hacienda Bl #E
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
626.369.0928