QuickTake:

At Eugene Hot Pot Express, which recently opened downtown on Broadway, your hot pot experience can be as spicy or tame you desire.

I’ve been on the hunt for spicy food in Lane County, and the results so far have mostly been tepid.

I don’t need my tongue to fall off. My face doesn’t need to puff up, nor should the spice level overpower the dish. I’m not craving 2 million Scoville heat units. But with every “hot” salsa verde and “spicy” noodle soup I’ve tried here, I ask, “Where is the heat?”

That’s why I was excited to try Eugene Hot Pot Express, which recently opened on Broadway downtown, with promises of spicy broth and DIY dipping sauce options.

This hot pot spot departs from the Chinese tradition in a major way: Instead of a communal dining experience — that is, patrons dipping meats, starches and veggies in a simmering pot of broth right at the table — the staff cooks everything for you.

That’s what makes this eatery “express.”

Eugene Hot Pot Express patrons can choose from more than 40 proteins, veggies and starches to add to their bowl. Credit: Taylor Goebel / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

Here’s how Eugene Hot Pot Express works: Turn left once you step inside, grab a bowl at the raw ingredient station, pick out your desired goods with tongs and head to the counter. There, you’ll choose your desired soup base and pay for your bowl based on weight; mine came out to just over $17. An employee will then take the bowl, add the soup base and ring you when it’s ready.

While you wait for your pot to hot, make your perfect dipping sauce at a station next to the service counter. I added hot chili sauce, vinegar, sesame paste, sugar, soy sauce and green onions.

A tip: Eye before you buy. Eugene Hot Pot Express offers dozens of raw ingredients, so your bowl will fill up quickly if you don’t pace yourself. Either choose a few things or sample small amounts of everything, which is what I did: My bowl had tofu, paper-thin slices of beef, shrimp, a fish ball, a fragrant pork sausage link, cabbage, chewy rice cakes, sweet potato noodles, shiitake mushrooms, bean sprouts and bok choy. 

Eugene Hot Pot Express makes for a unique and fast dining experience: Instead of dipping your own ingredients at your table, employees will cook everything at once in your chosen soup base. Credit: Taylor Goebel / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

The Tom Yum soup base steamed up my glasses, but my bowl wasn’t just hot in temperature: I found myself taking frequent sips of my taro milk tea ($4.99) while still enjoying the aromatic hot and sour broth. Add to that a chili-heavy dipping sauce, and I enjoyed a satisfying kick, runny nose and all.

The spice-averse need not worry: Hot Pot Express serves milder soup bases including beef, herbal pork and chicken bone, mushroom, and sukiyaki, which is a sweet and savory Japanese broth. All eight soup bases are made in-house and simmer for hours, which helps extract nutrients and build flavor for a silky, viscous mouthfeel.

For co-owner Ling Li, Eugene Hot Pot Express isn’t just a business. It’s a way to introduce people to more dishes from China, a country whose food regions are as vast and diverse as its landscape. Ones that are fresh and healthy, too.

“I’m Chinese,” she told Lookout a few months before opening her business. “I want people to see not only American Chinese. We have different kinds that people never try. I want to bring the culture, too.”

If you go

Eugene Hot Pot Express is at 51 W. Broadway and opens at noon on Sundays and 11 a.m. all other days. Bowls are priced by weight, at $14.99 per pound. This is a solid spot for a casual lunch, dinner or a midday bubble-tea stop. Find plenty of vegetarian soup bases and hot pot ingredients. Gluten-free options are labeled, but those with severe allergies should be aware the raw ingredient station has a few items containing wheat. 

Got a favorite spicy dish? Let food correspondent Taylor Goebel know at taylor@lookoutlocal.com

Taylor Goebel covers Lane County's food and drink scene. She has nearly a decade of experience in multimedia journalism, having reported across the Mid-Atlantic on dining, food systems, education, healthcare, local elections, labor and business. She was most recently a food reporter in Washington state, where she documented a fourth-generation fishing family, covered a David vs. Goliath conflict between a national coffee chain and a small Turkish cafe, and had many culinary firsts, from ensaymadas and gilgeori (Korean street) toast to morels and black cod.