Photos: Roy Choi’s Pot in Koreatown

The “Boot Knocker” hot pot includes canned meats such as Spam and spicy pork sausage. The dish is sometimes called “military stew” by Koreans because many ingredients were supposedly scrounged from a U.S. base in Seoul.  (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

Susan Ramaker, Monte Baier, center, and Douglas Stalgren dine at Pot. Unlike other restaurants in Koreatown with similar dishes, the names of Pot’s menu items are aggressively non-Korean.  (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

In addition to its signature hot pots, the restaurant serves a variety of other Korean dishes, including barbecued veggies.  (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

Galbi is a popular dish at Pot. There is also a stew version of the meat, “Shorty,” which is galbi jjim sweetened with chestnuts and dates.  (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

Beep Beep, a uni dynamite rice bowl amplified with sea urchin, is the closest thing to a must-order at Pot.  (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

The dining room at Pot, which is inside the Line hotel in L.A.’s Koreatown, resembles a converted hospital cafeteria with its low, tile ceilings.  (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

The “Redondo Beach,” which comes with spicy crab, bean sprouts, sesame, onions, nira and tofu, is a tamer version of a spicy crab soup you might find at one of the Korean seafood restaurants on the Redondo Beach pier.  (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

The pickled sea beans at Pot, made with ground sesame and seaweed, may be the best in Koreatown.  (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

Pot chef and owner Roy Choi is known for his Korean street food. His other restaurants include the Kogi food trucks and Chego.  (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

Pot offers soju cocktails with a choice of nato, curry or kimchi. The only other cocktail on the menu is a Long Island Iced Tea, but there is also a Pot Lobby Bar where a wider selection of drinks can be enjoyed.   (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

Pot signage, the only thing illuminating the restaurant’s narrow entryway, has a similar design to medical marijuana signs, a play on the name.  (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

Octavio Paredes, left, Jose Diaz and Pedro Martinez prepare food in the well-stocked kitchen at Pot.  (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)