There's a Mexican place here in town that serves good food. The first time I went there I ordered Carnitas for Lisa, then asked the waiter if the Chili Colorado was spicy and he shook his head and said no, so I asked him to punch mine up a bit. He asked how spicy, and I told him to light my ass up and to throw in a couple fire roasted jalapenos as appetizers. He cocked one eyebrow and asked if I was sure. Fuck yes I'm sure, Jose - cook mine like you eat yours.
When they brought my food, he had a big smile on his face, and I noticed all the cooks and waiters were poking their heads out from the kitchen area and nodding with approval. I dug in and yes indeed, it was good and spicy. I'd take a bite, wipe the sweat off my forehead, smile back at them and take another bite. Now whenever I go back, it's like old home week and the waiter greets me as Mr Light My Ass Up.
Only way to eat Mexican food... You should be be able to taste it leaving too.
ReplyDeleteHi Kenny!!
ReplyDeleteFrom someone who also usedta' live in So.Cal. I concur!!!
Also... I now live back here in S/E La. where I grew up and I don't have to tell you about all the "spicy" flavorings down here!!!
Blue skyz!!!,
skybill
That one about made me spit my coffee out from laughing. Thanks, Kenny.
ReplyDeleteGreat to find a place where they get you, and recognize you; franchises do just the opposite.
ReplyDeleteI've been told that many Mexican citizens can tell when they are hungry when their a-holes stop burning. A bit awkward to ask but there you go.
ReplyDeleteYES! The OTHER problem here in Tennessee is they put some kind of gawd awful, cheese-like sauce (queso sauce) on everything, will kill an otherwise good but spiceless meal! They all look like Mexicans, they sound like Mexicans, the food looks Mexican but it's straight up gringo food. So every order starts with "I'm from Baja Norte (San Diego), no queso sauce, spice it up like the cook wants it". Usually I get that funny look, so I ask what part of Mexico are they from, it's usually something like Nashville, Chattanooga, Atlantis, Ga., etc. (in my head, WTF?!). Almost all of them make decent Carnitas tacos with just cilantro and onions. They will usually have hotter sauce in back, if the table choices are too mild for ya. I'm not quite a "light my ass up" guy, but I definitely need some heat.
ReplyDeleteGOOD THING my Viking/Slavic wife can do Mexican food right!
I was doing a job down in El Central a few years back and ordered something I couldn’t pronounce made with beef ribs and a brown sauce. The cute little Mexican waitress told me “Honey, you don’t want that, only my grandpa eats it and he doesn’t have any tastebuds left.” My experience up till then was Californian Mexican was the mildest through out the southwest, so I went for it. Holy shit, that was the hottest thing I’ve ever eaten. Three beers and four tortillas later I finished it, mostly because of pride. I mean, I grew up with one Mexican aunt and another who was a cook for Boy’s Ranch up in Amarillo. Both made some pretty spicy stuff, or so I thought. Lesson learnt. If a Mexican, even in California tells you something is hot, trust them. Eod1sg Ret
ReplyDeleteNo Mexican food is a small price to pay for not having hordes of Mexicans around. Leave Tennessee for the Tennesseans.
ReplyDeleteSome of us know how to make our own. I prefer my own homemade Mexican food to most restaurants no matter where they're located.
DeleteAnon@6:18 what a boring life you must lead. There's nothing wrong with trying and enjoying other cultures foods.
DeleteAnan@8:14. Nothing wrong with their food. People make a place. Hordes of Mexicans makes Mexico. There's already a Mexico. There should be a Tennessee for Tennesseans.
DeleteReminds me of the last time I had some lamb vindaloo at the local Indian / Himalayan restaurant. They warned me. I thought I was up to the task. My digestive system hasn't been the same since. NEVER again. Approaching 60 trips around the sun sucks. :-(
ReplyDeleteTry chicken tindaloo or for more fun, chicken phall.
DeleteWent to a local Indian place with friends, a long time ago. They had something called Chicken Bangalore, labelled 4 chillies, or whatever. Hottest on the menu. Waiter even says, "It's very hot!" Bring it on. And it was. Damn! Halfway through, I noticed my stomach was hurting, and then, noticed cook was peeking out of the kitchen. Still managed to finish it.
DeleteThat'll clear the polyps from your colon!
ReplyDeleteMy girlfriend (long ago) her grandparents were Mexican. They lived in San Diego. I loved every morning sitting at breakfast with her grandfather. We would eat and sweat off the calories as we ate... Nothing better than home cooked mexican breakfast!
ReplyDeleteGB
Got a burrito place down the road. First time there he asked if I wanted heat and how much on a range of 1-5. I told him 5 and he proceeded to put some small dabs of hot sauce on my burrito. I had to tell him, “Not white guy 5.”
ReplyDeleteHey Kenny
ReplyDeleteKent Rollins just put a Chili Colorado recipe up last Wednesday.
I don't eat much Mexican food, I do like it but it's just something I seldom eat.... My favorite to go out to eat in Chinese food and a close second is Thai... Thai, if done right, is hot and spicy with so much flavor it's crazy. There's a little place near me that uses a number system for heat levels, 1 - 10.. I've been as high as 8 and it's HOT, working my way up..
ReplyDeleteJD
Worked one location in Omaha near a Thai restaurant. Had many lunches there. Another guy and I liked the Thai 10, while our coworkers thought 2 was too spicy.
DeleteI always ask for Thai Spicey. They just leave a spice plate at the table
DeleteI grew up in South Texas eating Mexican and Tex-Mex and fresh jalapeños like they were french fries. But the hottest food I've ever eaten was Thai. Now I live in Pennsylvania, where the Mexican food tastes like it was made by folks whose only exposure to Mexican cuisine is from looking at pictures of Mexican food.
ReplyDeleteYeah, as an Atlanta native, I've always really enjoyed people from outside the South complaining that it's not like where they came from.
ReplyDeleteBless your heart. Atlanta's no more southern than any other major metro area in the US.
DeleteThai is just a bit too hot for my taste. No way in hell am I walking into a Thai restaurant and telling them to light my ass up.
ReplyDeleteThe waitress is a very cute Thai woman with a mischievous personality, she could probably talk me into anything...
DeleteJD
Well, I see my comments section is fucking up again. I replied to your earlier post and instead started another thread. Man, I hate this fucking blog sometimes.
DeleteI saw that and thought it was unusual but it's Monday so who fucking knows...
DeleteJD
Yeah well we lovie it ya transplant, so suck it up buttercup.
DeleteAnd keep up the fine work.
TN Farmer
I'M TRYIN'!!!
DeleteI eat jalapenos (pickled) almost every day. My wife and I went to Red Robin and they had a jalapeno burger. Sliced jalapenos on the meat and a whole one on top of the bun. I took the big toothpick out of the one on top and popped the whole thing in my mouth.
ReplyDeleteI honestly thought I was going to die. I never had a pepper that hot before. I couldn't breathe. My wife saw I was fucked up but didn't know what to do. Just then a manager walked by and I grabbed his arm and got the word "milk" out . He came back with a big glass of milk and it solved the problem.
Never again.
My thing when I'm on a road trip is to buy a bag of fresh jalapenos and when I find myself getting tired, I'll pop one in my mouth to wake myself up. It's better than coffee. Anyway, one day I got one that was much, much hotter than any one I'd ever had before and all I had in the truck was water. I thought I'd never get that fire put out.
DeleteTo this day, I'm convinced somebody slipped a different kind of pepper in with the jalapenos at the store.
I'm not a fan of jalapenos, just don't like the taste, probably why I don't eat Mexican often..
DeleteThey are a weird pepper though, I've grown some for my neighbor, some are kinda mild and others are spicy, all from the same seed packet
Give me a good and spicy habanero and y'all can have all those jalapenos
JD
I think that jalapenos are the most random with their heat levels - sometimes bell pepper, sometimes take your face off. That's why I prefer habaneros - I know I'm getting heat!
DeleteNoodle House in LaVergne TN ( Lao - Thai )
ReplyDeletethose little SE Asain peppers are mean & they can fix it hotter than even THEY eat !
TN FArmer
I asked for Thai Hot in a little restaurant in Sarasota, Siam Orchid. The lady running it said she would make it for me if I ate a teaspoon of pickled birds eye chilli seeds first. I got my meal as I wanted it and a hug from her every time we go in.
ReplyDeleteMi casa is in Socorro New Mexico, 30 years. I had a job that took me all over America. I have to get back to the Rio Grande valley and get real Mexican food every six months. Poblano chili from Sichler Farms is Gerbers around here.
ReplyDeleteif you really want spicy, go Thai. on a bet I ate a bowl of Beef Ka Pow Thai hot.
ReplyDeletethat shit is for people who hate themselves. never mind Double Thai Hot and Triple Thai Hot.
Nope, too spicy for me. I know my limits.
DeleteNext time instead of asking for a couple of roasted jalapenos, ask for a Carolina Reaper pepper instead. Now THAT will light your ass up! Check out some of the YouTube videos of guys eating these, usually on a dare. Most of them end up gagging and puking, followed by drinking a half gallon of milk to try to extinguish the flames.
ReplyDeleteNope, I need flavor with my heat. I do enjoy ghost pepper or Carolina Reaper salsa on my sausage and eggs every morning though.
DeleteSpeaking of which, how are you doing with the ghost pepper sauce, are you ready for more ?
DeleteJD
Oh no, I'm good on all varieties of hot sauce and salsa. I alternate them on a regular basis. Thank you, though.
DeleteYou're welcome and enjoy
DeleteJD
A big surprise when I moved back to Montana from San Diego County was finding "Extra Mild" salsa at the grocery store. I didn't know it existed. An owner of some Mexican restaurants in town told me he had to substitute Anaheim chilis for poblanos in his chili rellenos because he got complaints about the heat. We don't eat at his place.
ReplyDeleteI sent your column to my brother - got this back:
ReplyDeleteI know, all Mexican food is “Americanized “ and it’s frustrating, same with any ethnic food, pasty faced white people have no concept nor capacity for anything spicier than ketchup, and Italian…fogeddabodit !!! What I have noticed and do like is food trucks.
Food trucks, if run by authentic immigrants who still have Rio Grande mud in the crack of their asses and enough Texas dust in their hair to grow an acre of desert sage can offer some fantastic culinary delights.
Jake and I stopped at one (actually a food trailer hitched to a pickup truck) in Athens a while back and got two burritos the size of the driveshaft on my Titan, the young feller takin our order acted as translator between us and his mother who was cooking on a griddle. Famous fatal mistake, “tell her to make ‘em like she would for you and give us a couple of those grilled jalapeños” (mistake #1). Mom looked over her shoulder, sizing up the two gringo’s, gave us a mother’s smile & went back to work.
It was raining so we decided to eat in the truck (mistake #2), the styrofoam container couldn’t take the weight and we had to cut those Mexican logs with plastic knives not to mention I had a steering wheel to contend with.
We both took a bite of those green napalm garnishes, commenting on how lucky we were that they were so big and not pickled like those fake store bought ones and for the first seven seconds all was well but with both of us knowing the predicament we were in I opted to take the beating in installments for the term of the meal but Einstein announced that he was going to take the soldiers way out at the end of the meal & bite the bullet.
Like a simmering pot or an underwater fuse you know that it’s just a matter of time before it comes to an end, oh BTW I don’t know if you know but Jake has a rather delicate digestive tract that is in a constant battle with his man brain, the gut always winning the argument.
I will spare you the final outcome of this showdown but Jake goes fishing with me for the amusement of watching me fall in the creek, I on the other hand enjoy watching him run through the woods with his unbuckled waders at half mast in full panic mode profusely sweating like a whore at nickel night.
I made the slow drive to a convenience store and howled in laughter for the next fifteen minutes, one of life’s little joys.
There used to be a hot sauce store at Carolina Mills. They had this one Reaper sauce called short round that you had to sign a waiver to try. I put a drop on a chip and popped it in my mouth. It was the hottest thing I ever put in my mouth. My eyes were watered shut and my wife had to lead me blind to the yogurt shop a few doors down. That's one I'll pass on.
ReplyDeleteI moved to TN in April from CA and yes, the Mexican food here is awful. Talk about tasteless crap. This is it.
ReplyDeleteNothing stopping you from moving back...
DeleteAll this commentary on spicy food is fine and well (making my mouth water) but what is the real story behind that pic of the flaming porta-potty launch? Looks like fun...
ReplyDelete