When you do visit Lao sze chuan, order the boiled beef. It sounds lame, but its actually cooked in lots of different peppers. It's not as spicy as some I have tasted in China, but it might just knock you off your feet. If not from the spiciness then it'd be from the awesome flavors.

There used to be a pizza place called chi-town pizza that served something called the "gringo killer." A few years ago the place got sued for not putting a warning label on their extremely spicy pizza. Supposedly 2 kids got hurt from the spicy pizza. The owner was pretty upset about it, and brought down the spiciness a few notches. If you can convince him though, he will still serve it to you how he used to do it.

jbambuti wrote:Khan BBQ on Western and Devon has many very spicy dishes. Pakistani food that never fails to make your eyes water and your upper lip sweat.

Khan BBQ
2401 W. Devon, Chicago
773-274-8600

Ive *love* spicy-hot food, and I love Khan's...but I dont consider Khan's to be
a spicy-hot-food place despite it It is spicy as in well-spiced, and their
chicken boti is a thing of beauty... but it is not, IMHO, *hot*. In fact, Id go so
far as to say that relatively few Pakistani foods are "hot" as such - most
seem not to be IMHO. Usmaniya, Sabri Nehari etc - they do good kababs,
great neharis, kadai-goats etc, but none of them are fiery hot.

Of the Indian dishes Ive tried... Chopal's Chilli Chicken. I always ask for
most things "extra spicy", and they now know me well enough I guess,
and they really kick up the heat nicely there. Even the regular Chilli
Chicken is hotter than most things youd find at Pakistani places IMHO.
The truly spicy Indian foods probably come from places like Kerala
(which have basically no representation in the Indian restaurants
in Chicago).

For Chinese food (specifically Lao)... I'll agree on the Boiled Beef, but
again with the caveat that it was asked for "extra spicy". Much spicier
than the Dry or Three Chili Chicken when I had it (maybe, because the
Boiled Beef was asked for extra hot, they decided to humour me that
day, I dont know Sometimes you get lucky that way (a couple of
weeks ago, in Madison, I was at New Orleans Take-Out and asked
for their shrimp dish extra spicy... the guy behind the counter did try
to tell me it was very spicy already, but I insisted I still wanted it extra
hot. While I was leaving he grinned and said he hoped they had made it
spicy enough for me The next time Iam there I will seek him out and
tell him he did great - it was one of the hotter Cajun dishes Ive had in
a while, and it was *great*! Sometimes they decide to humour you, and
thats when it really works out well

For the truly hot foods... if you go to Cafe Salamera and have their
sandwiches, they are incredibly tasty and good. But if you throw on a lot
of their habanero sauce, it turns into incredibly tasty, good, and very
very fiery. You can regulate your own heat-level (Nory herself
said she uses her own habanero sauce almost not at all, or very very
little, because its too hot for her).

Similarly, Id recommend the Jerk Chicken at Uncle Joe's way down south
on Cottage Grove and 82nd street. They have *excellent* Jerk Chicken,
the best Ive eaten in the city... and their Jerk Sauce is wonderfully
fiery hot. You can regulate it yourself, loading up if you like - and if you
really load up on the sauce, it can be one of the hottest (and best)
dishes in the city. (Sri Lankan food is generally considered to be
amongst the hottest in the world - I once offered some of that Jerk
Chicken to a Sri Lankan friend, but my hand slipped while I put some
of the Jerk Sauce on from the little container, and the chicken got completely
slathered in the sauce. After two bites, the Sri Lankan guy who has
grown up on fiery hot foods went *running* for the water, nearly tear-ing
up... and sometimes even brings it up now, a year later, as the time I
tried to kill him This is Jerk Sauce made with Scotch Bonnet Peppers.

Basically, it all comes down to the kind of peppers used. Jalapeno pepper
used (as at Khan's, sometimes), is frankly not hot at all IMHO. This is
borne out by the "Scoville Units" measurements too, the standard
heat-measure. A Jalapeno pepper is rated between 2500 and 8000
Scoville Units (and I honestly dont find it spicy at all, usually). A Serrano
Pepper is 8000 to 22,000 Scovilles - also, IMHO, not crazy-hot, to me.
A Scotch Bonnet Pepper that is used in Jerk Sauce, however, is often
rated over 150,000 Scoville Units! (Officially, a Scotch Bonnet is between
150,000 and 325,000 Scoville Units). Thus, not surprisingly, if I lather on good
Jerk Sauce onto Jerk Chicken, I *do* find it very very spicy (despite loving
hot food, I still use the Jerk Sauce carefully, and often use the doughy
Jamaican bread along with the Jerk Chicken and Jerk Sauce in a single
mouthfull, for a truly wonderful fiery-yet-tasty sensation).

c8w

Binko wrote:

YourPalWill wrote:Binko, I actaully made some xni pec for the Cinco De Mayo holiday. Most of the recipes I found online consisted of habaneros and lime and onion- no tomato. Assuming those were authentic recipes, I was referring to that particular variation as xni pec.

OK. Because I believe Antonio refers to the table salsa as xni pec. I looked online and most of the recipes I found contain tomatoes and are not blended (like the habanero sauce), but rather more like salsa cruda or pico de gallo. Is it possible both are called xni pec?

To answer my own question (per Rick Bayless on Mexico: One Plate at a Time): the table salsa served with the chips is xni-pec. The extra hot and smooth habanero salsa that comes with certain dishes is salsa habanera.

banpei wrote:And this is the restaurant I mentioned earlier

Banpei,

You pictures from Spices look, though no idea if they taste (obviously) quite similar to Lao Sze Chuan, which has been mentioned in the thread.

Lao Sze Chuan Chile Smelt


Lao Sze Chuan House Special Dry Chili Prawns


And my favorite dish at Lao Sze Chuan, Sliced Beef and Maw Szechuan Style


Tony's three chile chicken is not blistering hot, more in the pleasantly spicy range, but it's crisp, crunch, spice, with an undercurrent of sweet, has been likened to chicken crack.

Tony's Three Chile Chicken



Lao Sze Chuan
2172 S. Archer
Chicago, IL 60646
312-326-5040.
http://www.laoszechuan.com

G Wiv wrote:Tony's three chile chicken is not blistering hot, more in the pleasantly spicy range,

I'd agree with this. The 3 Chile Chicken is not among the "very spicy" dishes that come to mind when I think of LSC.

It is possible, though, to turn up the volume a bit at LSC with their "Chili Platter" (found on the hot appetizer menu):



Best,
Michael

I just want to point out, in defense of iblock9's suggestion, that Heaven on Seven does have a huge selection of hot sauces, though heat added by the diner is certainly a different experience than heat the chef incorporates into the cooking process.

eatchicago wrote:It is possible, though, to turn up the volume a bit at LSC with their "Chili Platter" (found on the hot appetizer menu):



Best,
Michael

I'm not sure I'd classify the Chili Platter as spicy hot. It's certainly a very pleasant condiment, but heat is not its overriding characteristic. It is the same condiment used to give the 3 chili chicken its delicious taste.

G Wiv wrote:

banpei wrote:And this is the restaurant I mentioned earlier

Banpei,

You pictures from Spices look, though no idea if they taste (obviously) quite similar to Lao Sze Chuan, which has been mentioned in the thread.



And my favorite dish at Lao Sze Chuan, Sliced Beef and Maw Szechuan

Tony's three chile chicken is not blistering hot, more in the pleasantly spicy range, but it's crisp, crunch, spice, with an undercurrent of sweet, has been likened to chicken crack.



Lao Sze Chuan
2172 S. Archer
Chicago, IL 60646
312-326-5040.
http://www.laoszechuan.com

G, Thanks for the images, the smelt looks wonderful, I think I will have to get that next time.

I cant help but notice the bottle of pinot noir sitting by the smelt dish. How was the pairing of that with spicy food from LSC?

stevez wrote:I'm not sure I'd classify the Chili Platter as spicy hot. It's certainly a very pleasant condiment, but heat is not its overriding characteristic. It is the same condiment used to give the 3 chili chicken its delicious taste.

It must be variable then--this is the stuff that I almost couldn't finish last time I was at LSC. Mine had more dried red peppers on them, and those dried little suckers had a lot more heat than I expected. When I had it, it was certainly at least as hot as the boiled beef, and certainly much hotter than the 3 chili chicken (which isn't very spicy at all, but yummy!)

Binko wrote:

stevez wrote:I'm not sure I'd classify the Chili Platter as spicy hot. It's certainly a very pleasant condiment, but heat is not its overriding characteristic. It is the same condiment used to give the 3 chili chicken its delicious taste.

It must be variable then--this is the stuff that I almost couldn't finish last time I was at LSC. Mine had more dried red peppers on them, and those dried little suckers had a lot more heat than I expected. When I had it, it was certainly at least as hot as the boiled beef, and certainly much hotter than the 3 chili chicken (which isn't very spicy at all, but yummy!)

Maybe I'm not the best judge because my heat tolerance is higher than most.

stevez wrote:Maybe I'm not the best judge because my heat tolerance is higher than most.

Perhaps. But I gave its heat level in relation to the boiled beef and spicy chicken, the latter which I didn't think was much spicy at all, to account for spice differences between differing palates. I like to think my heat tolerance is fairly high, too, considering I eat whole, raw habaneros at a single sitting.

First off I am a total spicy food junkie as well! I am always seeking/cooking spicy food of all kinds, I love it!

I saw New Orleans Take Out mentioned above and I must mention that is my favorite restaurant of all time. I grew up in Madison (80's) and I am the biggest fan of that place. I've had friends work there and know the owner. I also grew up down south (70's) and ate cajun/creole food as a way of life as a young kid and NOTO is still the best I've ever had. There is no good cajun/creole in Chicago, so sad, but the trip to Madison for NOTO is always worth it! Get the Shrimp/Crawfish Etouffee on Sat, get the too hot to eat version, the "real" deal the way John used to make it when it was only a Sat. special.

For spicy in Chicago, sometimes I can get a Vindaloo that is for real, but I haven't found a consistent place that will do it full on.
Some of the thai places will make it spicy for real if you ask them or they get to know you. They are always impressed when you eat it up and say it was fine. hahah

Lao Sze Chuan is good for sure, best I've had outside of China.
Khan is a new discovery for me, which is fun, but it's not super spicy, still recommended though.

Let me know if you find any places! Have fun!

on the thai menu at spoon thai, they have a thin and sour curry either with shrimp or mudfish. its served over a flaming coal in a stainless wok of sorts. as soon as it is set down you can stir up the pureed thai chiles in it until it is just a cloud of pulp. thats my current jones for spice. actually, that could be lunch.

while I haven't been in some time, I do remember Hema's used to put out a pretty hot-rageous vindaloo in the late 90's. The frontier chicken at Khan BBQ is pretty darn tasty and has a nice kick to it too, but not high-inducingly hot.

Couple nights ago I ordered nam sod from Thai Pastry and asked them to make it hot, which much to my pleasurable surprise, they did very well. It was loaded with hot pepper. Took me two sessions to eat it all. Full body burn, sweat, eyes watering and much giggling.