MáLà Project

"There’s plenty of great Szechuan food in the East Village. But Málà Project’s spicy dry pot specialties make it the most remarkable Szechuan dining experience in the neighborhood. One night, you could have a great dinner consisting of bacon fried rice and a dry pot with broth-filled beef balls, bok choy, and lotus root. And you could go back the following week for a dry pot full of tofu skin, frog, and four different kinds of mushrooms. No matter how many times you eat here, it always feels exciting." - will hartman, bryan kim, willa moore, kenny yang, neha talreja

"Both the East Village and Bryant Park locations of Málà Project are back open for takeout and delivery from noon to 9pm every day. You can check out their menu and place your order for things like customized dry pot and garlicky eggplant online." - hannah albertine

"All four Málà Project locations offer delivery via Doordash from noon to 9:30pm every day. Check out their website for direct links to each location’s restaurant profile, and a full menu of things like customized dry pot and excellent dan dan noodles. " - neha talreja, bryan kim, hannah albertine

"The casual restaurant specializes in spicy dry pot, which you can customize with your choice of vegetables, meats, noodles, and spice level. You could eat here three times in the same week, with three very different people, without ever feeling like you’ve done it all before. Málà Project opened their first location in the East Village in 2015, and have since opened three more restaurants and a jazz lounge. At the original, long, brick-walled space, you’ll see a lot of dates splitting bottles of wine and chatting over Chinese music from the ’80s. " - neha talreja, hannah albertine, diana kuan

"A pot of lamb, bok choy, wood ear mushrooms, shrimp balls and chicken gizzards make their way into a wok with a fragrant “secret sauce” and complex spiced oil." - Kevin Chau