You can get sushi off a conveyor belt at Pod in University City. Cool, right? Now, the movable-feast shtick has been extended to the make-your-own soup experience known as hot pot.Chubby Cattle, a high-energy newcomer now open at 146 N. 10th St. in Chinatown, specializes in Mongolian, Tibetan, and Chinese hot pot.
The basics: Put on a bib. Order via iPad. Choose a broth and spice level.Mix up a sauce from condiments at the table. Out come ingredients that you add to cook in your broth, including mushrooms, live shellfish, and richly marbled, buttery delicious Wagyu beef (hence “chubby cattle”).Though waiters work the room, cold ingredients wend around by conveyor belt. Hot food from the kitchen, such as shrimp skewers, comes out on a rail system atop the conveyor belt. Yes, a small mag-lev train.
You pay only for what you order. Here is the menu, which includes such specialties as Wagyu nigiri. Per-person tabs start about $30 and easily can top $100. (This Wagyu beef, sourced from Japan, is not cheap; it’s also sold through a retail counter near the front door.)
Liquor license is on its way. Hours now are 5 to 11 p.m. Sunday to Wednesday, till 1 a.m. Thursday to Saturday. Lunch (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) will start in about a week.
