Lucky Spot Hot Pot

Zone 88's dan dan noodles are a simple dish of wheat noodles, diced pork, a little preserved vegetable, and hot oil, good but possibly disappointing if you were expecting the usual version with lots of sesame oil and peanuts. "Sour preserved veg with sour and spicy noodle" ($5.25) was as intense as its redundant name suggests: Clear rice noodles were tossed with kimchi-like pickled vegetables and doused with a hot, vinegary sauce. This proved better the next day, after the noodles had absorbed most of the liquid. The pumpkin-sesame pancake ($4.50) was something like a pupusa: a pumpkin-based dough filled with a slightly sweet black-bean paste, patted into a flat disk, fried, and topped with peanuts and black sesame seeds. Sounds odd, but the combination worked well.

On one visit, dinner concluded with a complimentary dessert porridge of beans, grains, and dried fruits. We weren't offered any after the hot pot meal, but it was late and the kitchen was closing.

If you live in or near the Portola, Zone 88 is one of your best neighborhood Chinese options. For the rest of us, it's a welcome addition to San Francisco's limited Sichuan and hot pot selections.