I saw the thread on what to do if food is too spicy, and I thought about the last time I ate something so spicy it hurt -- Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas. I made the mistake of ordering my shrimp soup at Level 3 spiciness instead of admitting that I am a 100% wimp and just getting it at 1. It really made my mouth hurt. Their spiciness scale goes up to 10 -- I can't imagine eating even a bite of something at 10! I don't even understand how they get the food that spicy.

So... what's the spiciest food you've ever had and were did you have it?

I'm not into really spicy food... but many years ago, my ex husband and I had dinner at a peruvian restaurant in Santa Barbara (I think it was called Papagallo?)-- and believing himself to be a bad-..., he asked them to make whatever it was he ordered extra extra spicy. He couldn't finish it, and it apparently didn't feel to great coming out the other end either.

yummy, Peruvian food can be really hot.

I enjoy the ceviche extra spicy at Edelicia's Peruvian Restaurant in Miami, FL

And it along with the green salsa are perfect! Great family that runs it too

The spiciest food I've ever had was at Ruen Pair (Thai) in Albany, CA. I have been to many Thai restaurants where I asked for SPICY, or EXTRA SPICY and they just wimp out, and think all whiteboys are total pussies. Ruen Pair asks you "do you know how our spicy is?" and I decided to try it. It was near convulsion-inducing spicy, but the flavor of the chile was delicious. (The other dishes were medium, which were spicier than most places when I ask for SPICY, and were just about perfect.) The next day was just "on fire" unpleasant in the departure department.

What has become my favorite Thai place (Sabuy Sabuy II in Berkeley) will make it about as spicy as above if you ask and make it clear that is how you want it.

Fine, call me a wimp. Make mine level 1 spice. I like to savor the flavors of my Thai food and not have them overpowered by spice to the point where I can't taste anything.

There is a major difference between hot heat and tasty heat. Some Buffalo wings in upstate NY have one characteristic or the other. I love Pizza Pub in Hamilton, NY for tasty hot wings. OTOH, in Buffalo, I had some wings I regretted for several days...

Call me a wimp, I don't care. I'll have mine at level zero please (or negative if possible).

I hate when the seasonings become the main flavor-which is probably the reason I don't eat anything my sister cooks. I want to taste the freshness of the ingredients. Tons of seasonings tell me already that their ingredients are crap.

Which is to say I don't like spicy food. I have trouble with a chipotle burrito (extra sour cream, extra cheese, guacamole, extra rice, mild salsa-anything to kill the spiciness), which is probably the spiciest thing I would ever eat. And the spiciest thing I probably have ever eaten.

I love hot and spicy food!

Bland food drive me positively insane...

I don't know if I can name the hottest or spiciest thing I've EVER eaten, but the other day I did have a rockin' Aloo Chaas! It had just the right amount of bite from the peppers and garlic to counter the buttermilk and cream.

May not be on par with some others here but the spiciest for me was Keo's Restaurant (Thai) in Honolulu.

Lack of spice doesn't mean bland to me, although I am prone to eat extremely hot things from time to time.

Best wings are the ones I make myself. I like a level of spice that sets my mouth on fire, but the heat builds slowly, over layers of smoke, garlic, onion, and other flavors. It needs to be hot enough to burn intensely but with immense flavor to back it up. I also modified-buttermilk brine (a ripoff of the Dan Gill technique) the wings before frying them, which really takes things to the next level. Serve with Diablo Poutine and you are well on the path to fat-kid nirvana.

In terms of restos, I'm particularly fond of East Coast in Cambridge, MA is infamous for their Hell Nights, a paragon of inferno cuisine. I'm a huge fan of spicy curries, and Goan curries (especially with lamb) at most any good Indian restaurant are exceptionally hot, yet wonderfully flavorful.

One of my biggest mistakes was telling a Thai chef in Bangalore that his "beef" (buffalo) chili salad wasn't hot enough. That came back to roost at the same time the "Delhi belly" set in. Ugh.

Cheers,

-Andrew

Diablo pizza at Woody's in Denver. One bite and I was done for the night. Second place was some hot wings I had in PHX. I don't remember the place.

Many years ago I ate at a Burmese restaurant in Back Bay, Boston (can't remember the name and it probably isn't there any more). Had some mixed vegetable dish. That's the only meal in my whole life that was too hot for me.

Are you talking heat of a dish (say a jalapeno or habanero burn) or spice richness of a dish? I'm assuming you mean the former, the two don't always go hand in hand.

Wasn't from a restaurant but was from some Vietnamese Deli Shop selling French Sandwiches Vietnamese style. When I ordered I made the mistake of forgetting to tell take out the green chili. So when I got it and took 3 bites, my tongue was burning as hell. Never had something as spicy as that and I'm a person who can tolerate among the spiciest food there is out there. But that time it was way over what I could take.

Couldn't remember the name of the shop though.

Back when it was still a small regional chain, BW-3's Wild sauce was their hottest. I could never get past 6 wings.

I've been back recently and think they've dumbed down their sauces...