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An array of meats and other hot-pot ingredients at owner Raymond Xiao's Hot Pot 757 restaurant (Photo courtesy Evan Vang)
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Evan Vang, regional manager for Boil Bay, whose owner is planning to open a pair of hot-pot restaurants (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Hot pot is a communal dining experience. (Photo courtesy Evan Vang)
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A third Richmond-area location of Boil Bay Cajun Seafood & Bar will open in October at 1321 Carmia Way. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Inside the forthcoming Boil Bay Cajun Seafood & Bar (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
“You have to have hot-pot friends; you don’t take just anyone,” says Evan Vang, regional manager for Boil Bay Cajun Seafood & Bar, of the distinctive dining experience.
Reflecting on a time he and a group of friends clumsily navigated their way around the culinary cauldron, and another occasion where the kid-to-adult ratio was a little high, he says he understands now that there’s a bit of strategy behind consuming the communal steaming bowls of broth that brim with meats, vegetables, noodles and spices.
“You really need people with you who really enjoy eating different things, and who are a little adventurous,” Vang continues.
Expected to open their doors by mid-2022, a duo of yet-to-be-named hot-pot restaurants from Boil Bay owner Raymond Xiao are planned at 10040 Robious Road and 7502 W. Broad St.
A seasoned restaurateur hailing from the Hampton Roads area, Xiao saw opportunity in Richmond, first entering the market with his Cajun-style seafood concept and introducing stores in Colonial Heights and Henrico, along with a third in Bon Air at 1321 Carmia Way set for an October opening.
Referencing an episode of chef David Chang's Netflix series "Ugly Delicious," Vang says, “Seafood boils traveled from New Orleans to Houston with [the] Vietnamese and then became this Viet-Cajun thing," noting that the concept has also been embraced by many Chinese people from the Fujian province who are now restaurateurs, including Xiao.
In a similar fashion, he says, Xiao was drawn to the hot-pot concept.
“Raymond saw hot-pot [restaurants] happening in other places,” Vang says. “It’s the whole idea of, you don’t have to come up with the best new thing, but just find something working really well somewhere else, and bring it to where it’s not.”
So far, the plan has worked well for the restaurateur and his growing empire of food businesses. Described by Vang as humble and hands-on, Xiao has owned and helped to open a dozen-plus restaurants over the years, including Crazy Buffet, a highly successful all-you-can eat Chinese eatery in Virginia Beach; multiple Boil Bay locations in Hampton Roads; and his first hot-pot and Korean barbecue restaurant, Hot Pot 757, also in Virginia Beach.
“A lot of places are trying to kind of sneak [hot pot] into their restaurants but not really going the distance,” Vang says. “We said, ‘Let’s go all in.’ ”
At the forthcoming restaurants, each table will double as a stove with inset burners, a grill and a menu that offers diners the chance to choose their own adventures.
With hot pot, it all starts with the broth, the bubbling foundation for the soup. Vang says he goes for the beef-butter style, an umami bomb of flavor packed with peppercorns and chile pods, while the spicy Szechuan offers a kiss of heat, and the Chinese herbal presents a vegetarian-friendly option.
Essentially an eat-and-lounge concept that encourages interaction, hot pot merges the cooking and dining experience into one. Meat options will range from brisket, lamb and pork belly to tripe, pork brain and beef tongue. Clams, scallops, mussels, swai fish, baby octopus, jumbo shrimp and frog legs make up the seafood portion of the menu. A condiment bar will include various add-ons such as chile paste, ginger, garlic, kimchi and chicken feet.
By the end of the meal, the table is typically scattered with an assortment of dishes that once contained mung bean sprouts; bok choy; lotus root; mushrooms; tofu skins; or udon, pho and vermicelli noodles. Vang says that although hot pot options are practically endless, it's really about the experience of enjoying it.
“It's very involved and intimate,” he says. "There's really nothing like it."
Vang also notes that Xiao’s hot-pot restaurants will be open until midnight, noting that the style of eatery became a popular post-work escape, particularly in the Asian community.
Another layer of the hot-pot venture is Korean barbecue, and for $29.99 diners can dabble in both, something Vang says almost everyone does. Beef, pork and chicken bulgogi — the most popular — in addition to short ribs, cumin lamb and pork belly are just a handful of the barbecue options that will be available for sizzling on the flat top.
Vang says the original hot-pot location in Virginia Beach has been successful, and they're excited to make a debut in Richmond.
“We definitely get a total mix of people in there. Everybody, all walks of life come in, it’s great,” he says. “I feel like when eating hot pots, no one is ever mad; it’s an experience, and you need to have a hot-pot squad.”
