On the MUSEENYC M ListThe M List — one we'd cross the city for, and keep going back to. See the list →
Lao Ma Spicy
Build your own dry pot at the counter — pick the meat, pick the vegetables, name your heat out of five.
- Where
- 58 E 8th St, Manhattan, NoHo Open in Google Maps ↗
- Price
- $$$
- Order this
- The dry pot, assembled at the counter
Going? Tell them MUSEENYC sent you. It's not a discount and there's nothing to redeem — we just want them to know where you heard it.
The menu is good. Ignore it. Go straight to the counter and build a dry pot: pick your meats, then your vegetables, name a spice level out of five, and say whether you want rice. That is the whole transaction, and it is the reason to come.
What arrives is properly numbing — Sichuan peppercorn doing what it is supposed to do rather than a token dusting on the way out of the kitchen.
What to know
It is pricier than it looks from the street, and one bowl comfortably feeds two. Order accordingly; a dry pot each is a mistake you only make once.