Hot Joy - Closed

Like its wildly successful parent in San Antonio, this Uptown spot revels in West-meets-East mashups, here served in a loud, riotously decorated setting of red-lacquered walls, lanterns and giant paper dragons. The shrimp po’boy gets an Asian twist from Vietnamese nuoc cham sauce and Japanese Kewpie mayo with Thai herbs. Crackling Southern fried chicken turns up in pillowy steam buns. And 16-hour smoked brisket appears in fried rice, tossed with pickled jalapenos and topped with Mexican cotija. The dish that made the San Antonio original famous, the crunchy, spicy, sticky and sweet crab fat caramel wings, is here, too. But hurry. Hot Joy is a pop-up: its building is slated to be razed in 2019. --Mark Vamos/Guide