New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Attention Chili-heads or people who enjoy watching their friends and family who are chili-heads, suffer immensely: here are five dishes within a short drive to put a hurting on you from lips to er…exit. Some even have challenges attached to them, for those who want a few minutes of local fame.
So what is the point of eating something so hot? This is an often asked question and one I’d like to reply with by borrowing George Mallory’s iconic response: “Because it’s there.”
There is a common misconception that chili-heads simply go for the hottest thing possible at every meal. Truth is we like heat, but the painful experiences are reserved for special occasions. There is a rather large variety flavor recipes to many of the bottled sauces on the market. Peppers can roasted, an assortment of citrus flavor from lime, orange, mango, pineapple, papaya, and even chocolate and cinnamon.
So whether you are looking for a challenge or have a bad case of Schadenfreude and want to watch your “stupid” friends suffer, here are five dishes you can find within an hour’s drive that will force you to ask the question “What did I get myself into?” and cry out “I WANT MY MOMMY!” Click on the title of each and it’ll lead you to their prospective website. Check out my previous articles on Rose Alley’s San Juan Challenge and Ghost of the Crazy Chicken. Here is #3 …
East Coast Grill’s Pasta From Hell
The first time I walked into the East Coast Grill during Hell Week, I immediately started coughing uncontrollably. Cold? Flu? Allergies? Nope. The air was permeated with hot peppers of all kinds. I glanced towards the open kitchen and saw chefs wearing gas masks. WHAT? Exactly. It was at this precise moment I realized I was doomed.
My pals and I were here for what was at the time the hottest dish in the world: Pasta From Hell. For a short period during the year, the East Coast Grill puts hot peppers of varying degree and intensity in their desserts, cocktails, appetizers, and entree. The flagship dish is the Pasta From Hell which is simple pasta smothered in a red sauce. However, there isn’t a tomato in sight. The red sauce in this pasta dish is a handful of Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper) pureed into a sauce. Salt? Pepper? Yeah, right. PURE Ghost Pepper.
If that isn’t pressure enough, there are local news’ camera crews filming it all and a fellow dressed as Satan walking around haranguing folks. Prime target: wimps who can’t get past one bite. We though we were so clever. We’d eat our “normal” food first so we wouldn’t destroy our taste buds. However, I didn’t know I’d need to chew three glasses of ice and drink a gallon of water and a bunch of rolls over a 60 minute period to fail at cooling down the heat. Try doing that on a full stomach!
The entire table tried to one up one another. One man ate a bite and stopped instantly. Next man ate three bites. Next man ate five bites. Guess who was last? Lucky [stupid] me. I ate nine bites.
I spent that night in a fetal position as my intestines felt like an inflating blimp. Something was trying to get out and was pushing against my stomach wall. Three days later, I was just fine. Three days later…
The reward was bragging rights. I could declare to the word that I had partaken of the world’s hottest dish. I would never hav to do it again! I climbed Mt. Everest and there are no higher mountains.
Within a week, one of my friends who thought my suffering was hilarious, called me to happily announce that the Ghost Pepper had been usurped by a cruel pepper called a Scorpion Pepper and was almost twice as hot.
Great.
Details: http://eastcoastgrill.net/about/hell-nights.
Next up … Ayur-Shri’s Ghost Pepper Powder.
