[CH] RE CH Cranking up the heat in restaurants
Ron M (swamp@netten.net)
Mon, 18 May 1998 18:52:51 -0500
This has never happened to me. Although the chef at a local Chinese
restaurant has tried his best to make me whimper. I just keep calling
him a
whimp. Last spring I set out 6 Habaneros that produced over 600 peppers.
(I
was thrilled) I would take the chef a quart zip lock bag full of habs
about
every other week. I got a lot of strange looks from other customers. He
says
I am the only person on earth that can call him a whimp and live to tell
about it. :)
I've had similar experiences in a couple of my favorite restaurants, one
being a vietnamese and the other a hole in the wall mexican.
The owners of the Vietnamese restaurant grow peppers outside of their
place and were, I guess, becoming annoyed with my always asking for the
Sirachi and the like. Well, the peppers started to ripen, and they would
bring me 5 or 6 of a certain kind, grin and go back and watch me from
across the room. Their grins would start to go away about the time I
would start on the 3rd pepper. Those were tabascos. next they brought me
some Thais. These WERE pretty spicey, but I loved them! So there I am,
sitting in the middle of this viet. restaurant during the lunch hour
rush. The owners watching me as I ate the thais, face a nice shade of
red, nose running, and grinning from ear to ear. Well, it got to the
point where I would go out to the pepper patch, pick some thais and
bring them in myself! I found some fresh habs at a local health food
store and took some in with me.The waitress saw what I had, and I
offered her some. She said "no no, they too hot, you crazy if you eat
them!" However, her mom really appreciated them.
At the mexican restaurant, I was always asking for the HOT salsa, and
they never had what I considered to be hot salsa, merely some with a
good tingle. Well, I had dried and ground up some habs, so I put them in
a shaker and took them with me when I ate there. My favorite waitress,
Monica, asked what it was and when I told her she asked for some. I gave
her some, and to the owner too. The next time I went in, they both said
they couldn't handle that and looked at me like I had a death wish!