Hot Pot

Owner Hu Ping-Dolph, an experienced restaurateur with nearly twenty-five years in the industry, opened Hot Pot on February 28, 2024.

Hu, originally from Nanjing, China, met her husband, Jonathan Dolph, in Singapore when she was in graduate school. Jonathan, an American, was teaching English abroad. They were married a few years later. After living in China for a brief period, they moved to the United States, where more employment opportunities were available for Jonathan. Hu worked part-time in the food industry as a young adult, but it was only after she was living in the United States that she turned it into a career path. In 2000, Hu purchased her first restaurant, Taste of China in Clinton, Connecticut.

Under Hu’s direction, Taste of China became very successful, attracting customers from greater distances, including New Haven and Yale University. In 2013, Hu and Jonathan opened New Haven’s Taste of China on Chapel Street in response to their customers’ requests for a closer location. They quickly became the go-to in the area for authentic Szechuan-style Chinese food. In 2018, Hu introduced a Northern-style Chinese menu at her restaurant Steamed, located on Whitney Avenue in New Haven.

Hu’s mission to bring authentic Chinese cuisine to New Haven continues with Hot Pot, offering a unique and healthy dining experience where customers cook a variety of meats, fish, and vegetables in hot broth right at their table. Each customer has their own recessed heated bowl filled with fresh chicken, mushroom, beef, or fish broth. The meats and vegetables are then placed in the heated broth and cooked in just thirty seconds.

“I take great pleasure in introducing authentic dishes from my native China to the New Haven community — starting with my Szechuan-style food, followed by steamed dumplings and now Hot Pot,” says Hu. “I am deeply grateful for the warm reception my restaurant concepts have received from the Greater New Haven and Yale communities. Finding a space to accommodate my vision for Hot Pot in the Whitney-Audubon District, which has a wonderful neighborhood quality and is across the street from my restaurant Steamed, could not have worked out more perfectly. I am especially thankful for the guidance from Yale University Properties and the City of New Haven during my extensive buildout.”