Re: [CH] Cranking up the heat in restaurants!
ralph feldman (ralph@theoryg.chem.pitt.edu)
Mon, 18 May 1998 18:14:26 -0400
Sandy Olson wrote:
>
> In response to Jonathan Smillie's request for ultra-hot food in a Thai
> restaurant, what happens when a order is really too hot to eat? Has
> anyone been thwarted by asking then not being able to handle extra-hot
> versions of restaurant food?
Well if you haven't, you haven't been trying hard enough. Its happened
to me a few times. Mostly at restaurants that have a supply of Daves on
hand to deal with wise asses( though a few restaurants bested me with
hab or even chinese chile based sauces before my tolerance hit the
stratosphere).
I don't like to make a big production out of how hot I want my food.
I'm not a hotness for hotness sakes sort of a person, and I don't have
anything to prove. Nevertheless I've been burnt (er..unburnt?) too many
times when the server (or maybe the kitchen) simply didn't believe me
when I requested that my food be spiced authentically, and brought out
the standard issue gringo fare. As a result, I've been forced into the
practice of staging a mini epic to get across that I really do want my
food hot. Actually I just restate my request, but emphatically. Of
course there is a risk in being emphatic. The restaurant might serve
their food hot anyway. Instead of serving the food authentically, which
is what I really want, they aim to punish. When or if a chile head ever
finds himself in this situation (after making a big production about how
hot he/she wanted the food to be), I think there are only three options.
Eat the food, find a way to mask the heat (more rice, sour cream, etc.),
or admit defeat and order something else. Sending the food back should
not even be considered. Diners need to take a little bit of
responsibility. If you demand heat, and get more than you bargain for,
tough. To many pseudo chile heats demand heat, and then refuse to pay
when they get more than they bargained for. This is why many restaurants
are reluctant to serve food authentically spiced to begin with.
Ralph