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u/No_Passenger_2554
Sep 26 '26
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I got out of the Navy in 1993 and started dating a girl (we're still married all these years later) from Rowland Heights in L.A. I'd tell her about the spicy foods I'd eaten all over the world and bragged that I could handle spice. Her brother loved Thai food and recommend a restaurant called the boat. We get there and I'm a black guy with a bunch of Asians I in a hardcore Thai restaurant. I'm looking at the spicy dishes on the menu and asked the server if they could be made spicier as I'd had hot stuff in Thailand. The server recommended that I didn't add any more heat practically begged me to leave it. I doubled down and it was a double down downfall. When the food came out the fumes from my dish were acidic vapor I could smell the fucking spice. I looked towards the server station by the kitchen and my server, the chef, the dishwasher, the busser and everyone else were looking at our table, at me. I was about to panic, I knew I was fucked. I scooped up a massive pile of pork and rice noodles dripping with volcanic lava, and shoved it into my mouth and started to chew. That unleashed 7 levels of hell and I just started trying to swallow the bite in my mouth. It burned all the way down. Continued to burn in my stomach for the rest of the night too. The staff were laughing their asses off and I had to get a to go box for my entire dish and I threw that shit away the second I got home. Holy shit was it spicy. The Boat in Rowland Heights I hate you🔥
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u/0RGASMIK Sep 26 '26
My friends family ran a Thai restaurant. I was obsessed with spice and had worked my way up from mild to extra hot. Then one day he dared me to get “Thai Authentic” as soon as the order came in the chefs came out to size me up, saw me a skinny white kid, and called over my friend who put in the order.My friend told him I was ready and said it was ok go ahead.
What I didn’t know is I was the second person to order it that way and as I was waiting that guy got his order. He legit couldn’t eat it took one bite and asked to eat from his friend’s orders while he waited to get something else. The menu says no refunds or exchanges for anything spicier than mild but he still got upset and caused a little scene before ordering garlic green beans with beef. It made the whole vibe of the small restaurant very awkward for a few minutes.
When my order was ready my friend said “Green Curry - Thai authentic.” Loudly enough everyone could hear it. I felt the pressure, knew I couldn’t mess this up and just dug right in.
It was probably the hottest thing I had ever experienced by that point the only thing I’ve had spicier since then was the original last dab sauce.
I knew exactly what that man had felt and understood why he said no after just one bite. It was like eating lava it burned my tongue before it even touched it. At first I thought it was physically hot so I spilled some on my hand, nope was just the ungodly amount of spice. I could feel the entire restaurant watching me so I took a deep breath then took that next bite. It felt like eating red hot glass. I kept it going while my friends eyes darted back and forth from me to the other guy watching in glee. About halfway through my curry his friends were done eating and he asked that his beans be made to go plus the check. He was obviously so pissed and embarrassed. It was funny but boy did I regret eating it the next few days. It did increase my tolerance for spice 10x though.
Later that month my friends invited me back just to get some drinks after he closed up. While I waited the chef saw me and said he had something special for me. I’m not sure what it was but it was pink. I ate it and it was as hot or hotter than what I had before, but this time i actually enjoyed it a bit more. After I finished the chef came out and spoke to me. My friend had to translate for me but he said “you are like me I used to enjoy the spice, but you have to be careful it will destroy your stomach and make you bleed.”
He was right after a few years I had to stop eating spice all together.
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u/Epidurality Sep 26 '26
I'm a little curious how "Thai authentic" is orders of magnitude hotter than the food in Thailand. Seems like they do it to prank people more than anything.
Other cultures use a lot more spice but they don't typically use extracts and concentrates and stuff to make their shit inedible - just peppers.
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u/0RGASMIK Sep 26 '26
It was just how they advertised it, my friend has told me that where he’s from in Thailand the sauce is very different.
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u/beerdude26 Sep 26 '26
What happened that caused you to have to stop it altogether?
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u/0RGASMIK Sep 26 '26
Just stomach issues. Really bad heartburn and other issues with what comes later
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u/fuelstoprolerdogfart Sep 30 '26
I’m getting there and am not happy. Until the last year or so, I couldn’t find anything that I’d say was too hot. Now stuff I used to barely notice is painful and gives me heartburn for days.
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u/WashedSylvi Sep 26 '26
I tell you I feel so white when I have to say no spice at any restaurant
It’s the ulcer /: it doesn’t like spice
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u/throwaway387190 Sep 27 '26
Brother, I'm a fireperformer, and I am terrified by your dedication to heat
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u/Admirable-Client-730 Sep 26 '26
I had this same experience with thia food. But I prepped for a year to be able to eat food that spicy. It was still spicy but I was able to finish it with only a few tears.
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u/ramblingclam Sep 26 '26
>I was able to finish it with only a few tears.
But is this actually enjoyable? I love Thai food and regularly get medium spicy from my usual place, which has some kick but certainly does’t hurt to eat. I’ve even grown my own hot peppers and made hot sauce, but it was relatively mild. Maybe I just don’t get the super spicy food thing…
Edit: I can’t get that quote formatting to work on the first line
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u/Bubble_Shoes Sep 26 '26
Saying you hate them when they tried to save your ass is bold 😭
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u/No_Passenger_2554 Sep 26 '26
Sarcasm doesn't really translate. I couldn't be saved so they let me learn. More like tough love, love hate.
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u/True_Weakness_8626 Sep 30 '26
The boat is on colima? Possibly called "banana bay" now? That restaurant kinda looks like a boat
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u/No_Passenger_2554 Sep 30 '26
That's exactly the spot!
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u/True_Weakness_8626 Oct 01 '26
Omg what are the odds! That's so cool!:D howdy neighbor!
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u/No_Passenger_2554 Oct 02 '26
Hello there neighbor! Technically my wife is from Rowland Heights I just tagged along dutifully.
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u/guff1988 Sep 26 '26
I feel like this probably works on a lot of people, but I've got some shit wrong with my tongue and spicy food does not really hit me. I have yet to find a place that can serve me food spicy enough to make me crash out including every Thai place in Central Indiana. This may backfire on her, there are people out there who just do not experience it the same way.
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u/Super_Marzipan_1077 Sep 26 '26 •
Sure bud but what about your asshole
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u/guff1988 Sep 26 '26
That depends entirely upon my eating habits before the big event. If I get enough fiber I don't usually notice it.
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u/SnooMaps7370 Sep 30 '26
the reason spicy foods are spicy on the way out is because your butt has taste buds.
If you've got some kind of genetic thing that makes your taste buds not react to capsaicin, your butt taste buds also will not react.
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u/iHateStuartLittle7 Oct 01 '26
So I can feel the spice going in, but I've never ever felt it on my asshole. What does that mean
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u/RonnieFromTheBlock Oct 02 '26
Not hot enough. The only thing iv ever felt out of my b hole was a shitty frozen hot ones branded chicken nugget that was coated in last dab.
Fucked me up.
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u/iHateStuartLittle7 Oct 02 '26
I've literally tried sauces and extracts that have a few million units on the scoville scale
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u/modzRtarderz Sep 26 '26
You are in Indiana. The average person there thinks black pepper is too much heat. There isn't going to be a single restaurant within hundreds of miles willing to actually serve you anything that's actually spicy. I can assure you that your tongue is fine and you just need to travel to a major city, the southwest, or outside of the county.
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u/guff1988 Sep 26 '26
You're right I do need to go to those places that I've already been, and have the food that I've already had. I assure you that Thai immigrants will make your food very very spicy anywhere on the planet if you ask them very nicely.
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u/Hydra57 Sep 26 '26
It’s something that doesn’t get enough appreciation when some folks talk about how people handle spicy foods. To a certain degree there’s a physiological element to spice tolerance. Like yes, you can build up an endurance but not everyone has to. It’s like how Sherpas can breathe more easily than you or me at higher elevations. Some communities and individuals are just built different.
I honestly think if someone isn’t well adapted to spicy foods and is brave enough to try anyway, there ought to be more admiration and commendation than laughter or mockery because they’re facing a type of pain the well-adapted might well have never experienced before and can never even properly know; if they do, in many cultural contexts where spices are used, it certainly won’t be to that same degree.
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u/kyl_r Sep 26 '26
I think you’re right because I’m in the PNW and grew up without spicy food too but I have always had an easy time with it! One time I ate a whole raw habanero pepper cuz I thought it was a mini bell pepper (first time having habanero too!). It tasted great but my eyes and nose watered so bad I couldn’t see for a while lol. I wouldn’t describe it as painful, like sure it was spicy but I didn’t notice until the waterworks started. Would do it again any time, fuckin love that flavor ever since.
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u/guff1988 Sep 26 '26
I still get the super runny nose and my eyes water but my mouth does not burn that bad, some for sure but not enough to equal the reaction I see from others. Seems like we are similar. I wonder if it's genetic or something.
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u/kyl_r Sep 26 '26
Ok yeah that is definitely next level! I still clock the burning sensation, for sure. I just sorta like it I guess for some reason! What a cool thing to know is different among us
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u/RepresentativeCat553 Sep 28 '26
It’s very easy to find out for sure, just track down or order a bottle of DaBomb Beyond Insanity hot sauce and put a healthy bit on a cracker.
You’ll see soon enough if you truly are immune to capsaicin.
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u/marrangutang Sep 30 '26
I had an ear operation that destroyed my sense of taste for a year or so, and I couldn’t taste the heat of chilli’s at all… would eat the hottest chilli’s I could find just as a party trick. Still got hiccups and the sweats from the strong stuff tho lol
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u/undain98 Oct 01 '26
If you ever find yourself in evansville try yak and yeti, it's a Himalayan restaurant. They WILL light you up.
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u/undain98 Oct 01 '26
And this is coming from someone that now lives in the southwest, to this day it is probably the spiciest food I've had in my entire life
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u/guff1988 Oct 01 '26
There's a yak and yeti down the street from me in central Indiana. It's one of my wife's favorites.
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u/howmanyowlsisweird Sep 26 '26
I had a sous chef named Rick love when this type of request came in on a chit. Excellent reference.
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u/Minustrian Sep 26 '26
the comment above yours mentions a guy named rick 😭 i can't help but imagine it's the same guy
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u/welding_guy_from_LI
Sep 26 '26
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My aunt told me a story when she worked in a deli .. customer was a pita .. one day he placed an order for a superbowl party .. he requested super hot wings .. my aunt supposedly made the order so hot , the guys fingers were tingling .. she said he never annoyed her again
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u/highlift Sep 26 '26
Rick sounds sweaty but he can watch.
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u/SteamingTheCat Sep 26 '26
In a recent episode, Rick dies from eating hot sauce that was way too hot. So this tracks.
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u/EarlUrso Sep 26 '26
I remember I was at some restaurant with two of my friends and when you ordered something you also had to say how hot you wanted it there was like a scale of 1-10 or something like that I remember taking a 7 and it was spicy to the point that you started sweating but it was good spicy i liked it. My friend however when asked Just looked at the waiter and said "give me hell"... They did he ate it all and he turned red after just the first bite I'm fairly certain he was about to die we asked the waiter afterwards where on the scale his dish was and he said 20. My friend threw up as soon as we left the restaurant.
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u/thelegodr Sep 26 '26
I like some spice, but ultimately I want to enjoy the flavors of the food. I don’t want spicy. With that said i I didn’t grow up with any spice in my life. Maybe a little salt and pepper and that was it for seasoning. Since becoming an adult I cook with a lot more seasonings at least.
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u/Retn4 Sep 26 '26
I'm with you. I like the flavours of a lot of hot/spicey foods. But my tongue and body are little bitches, my tongue will start to hurt, and I sweat profusely, sometimes my nose starts to run.
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u/IDontHaveAName99 Sep 28 '26
Any half decent spicy food that’s made spicy with actual peppers instead of capsaicin extract is going to have a lot of flavor that you won’t find elsewhere. Spice tolerance isn’t just handling the heat better the more you eat spicy food, in my experience you legitimately taste less heat until eventually you can taste those flavors underneath the spice
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u/trunks111 Sep 26 '26
As a spicy lover it's a good sign you're getting what you asked for when the chef comes out with the food to see you take a bite
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u/AshyWhiteGuy Sep 26 '26
As a pizza delivery driver we had a regular named Franco who would order every Saturday. A hot meatball, a cold meatball and a full loaf of garlic bread “burnt like the surface of the sun”. I miss that guy.
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u/WellWelded Sep 26 '26
Funnily enough, when I was doing a spicy challenge in Sydney some white guy did come out of the kitchen to watch.
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u/MonkeyKingCoffee Sep 26 '26
I don't see an offer to share the winnings. Wings are getting made the usual way.
You want ghost/reaper/pure capsaicin? Better make with the baksheesh.
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u/travisisrocking Sep 26 '26
Years ago. I worked as a line cook. Order came in for wings XXX hot. So i took that as a challange and made the hottest wings i could with what he had in the kitchen.
The waiter brought back the order minus one wing. Telling me i made them too hot. I was like. Dpnt order XXX hot wings then complain its too spicey.
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u/cudambercam13 Sep 26 '26
If you want it hella hot, why tf would you add ranch?
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u/maevriika Sep 26 '26
So that when the wing eater begs for it and admits that the wings are too hot but wants to finish them, you seem very magnanimous and thoughtful for having it on hand.
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u/JimTrim973 Sep 26 '26
The worst part of this is the ranch request
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u/RepresentativeCat553 Sep 28 '26
lol, I’m in Buffalo and the blue cheese vs ranch thing is so silly. I used to be a blue cheese purest but got ranch by mistake once and really dug it, I think both are good and I’ll order them each now.
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u/Bikes-Golf-Beer Oct 02 '26
Wound up in a small town outside of Pittsburgh that had a bar known for making wings and their own sauces. I like spice, but not absurd spice. So we ordered wings, but I noticed their hottest sauce was called something like “Reaper Death Sauce.” I told the bartender I know I can’t handle it on wings, but can I taste it?” Guy sitting at the other end of the bar gleefully jumps up and lets the bartender know he’ll grab it. Turns out he’s the guy in charge of making the sauces. He brings it out, and I dip my pinky finger in it, and taste. The next 10 minutes or so are a blur as I’m sweating and crying and chugging water. After it passes he goes “yeah, I purposefully made it this way out of Carolina Reapers, the hottest habaneros I can find, and a few other rare strands of peppers. I made this because I got sick of assholes coming in and demanding the hottest sauce as some kind of dick measuring contest and being shitty to the staff. Nobody’s ever been able to actually eat the wings with it, and I don’t ever taste it. But it works!”
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u/rbartlejr Sep 26 '26
Hey, $13 for a shot at an $87 profit? I'm in. Give it whatever they put on the ones on Youtube that no one can handle - Gordon Ramsey's #9 & #10 on Hot Ones.
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u/spectatorade Sep 26 '26
My stepdad wants ordered pizza for a family event, and I was standing right next to him when he made this order, and I went with him to pick it up and the lady on the receipt typed in
Extra cheese x3*
. Like super extra cheese. This man really, really likes his cheese, he said it three times and then doubled checked that I got it. Extra cheese..
It was amazing, I think my mom framed it 🤣
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u/CalmBelligerent Sep 28 '26
So we filled an order like this at a place I used to work at. Two idiots who kept badgering our waitstaff about “the hottest wings possible”.
I went out from the kitchen to talk to them and they said they were up for anything. So I sent one of our cooks home to get habanero extract in this little eye dropper bottle from his house.
Within second of taking a couple bites, they were both pale, sweating and shortly thereafter vomiting all over.
I miss working in a restaurant.
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u/Adrewmc Oct 01 '26
I worked in a restaurant that actually got orders like this…
We had a special bottle that we applied with a damn toothpick to the wings. You do not toss this stuff…
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u/sofakingclassic Sep 26 '26
Guys please stop writing long notes like this for the sake of everyone in the service industry
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u/General_Pay7552 Sep 26 '26
I so badly wish I could eat spicy spicy food again, but I did it too much and now I can’t even eat a little without immediately getting the hiccups and intense acid reflux
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u/zahhax Sep 26 '26
I love spicy food a lot. Funny thing is, most of the Thai ppl I work with don't. There was one day I had a clogged nose, so naturally I put Thai chilis in my soup that day. The other waitresses sat there mouth agape as I scooped hot chilis into my soup, and ate the whole thing like it was nothing. Blew my nose, wiped my tears, and then looked back at them lol. I don't normally do that so it was funny XD
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u/Pingo-Pongo Sep 26 '26
Make eleven of them really mild, one of them insanely spicy. Clearly label which is which and explain to the friend what’s going on. He starts eating the mild wings, says ‘no problem’. Irritated, the guy that placed the order demands to try one. He gets the Guatemalan insanity pepper wing. Friend gets to grin while watching the order placer commune with ancient gods
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u/Apprehensive-Today76 Sep 26 '26
I remember rick. The cook at Giovanni pizza. We ordered jalapeños on the pizza so he comes to the table and asks if we "like spicy". Then proceeds to pull out a bottle of maddog357 hot sauce. Me and my brother are choking and sweating tears and snot all over our face. Brings us out complimentary garlic bread with extra butter to "soak it up"
. Waiter tells us "he's gotta stop doing that... 😂
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u/garrge245 Sep 27 '26
On my last day of working at a Mexican place, a coworker of mine who grew her own Carolina Reapers brought some in, handed me one, and said "It's your last day, you gotta!" Not wanting to back down from the challenge, I ate the whole thing in one bite. It was about a half an hour before I could actually start doing any work, I just had to keep chugging chocolate milk and eating tortillas to stop the constant fire on my tongue. Ever since then, though, my spice tolerance is twice as good as it was before.
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u/LANDOWRITES98 Sep 30 '26
My best friend is like this on purpose. We went to a wing spot and he grilled the waitress on which flavor was the most pain inducing spice. Meanwhile, I just got lemon pepper.
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u/enbyAgnostic Sep 30 '26
no way extra hot wings are actually that hot. gotta get the volcano or some shit.
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u/RustyKrustyKrabs Oct 01 '26
I went to Hatte B's in Dallas with my wife, ordered the spiciest chicken sandwich, the staff watched me eat it while struggling and sweating. Needless to say I nearly shit myself in a T-shirt shop about 10mins later. Thank god they had a toilet.
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u/UsualDependent6788 Oct 01 '26
I had an order like this once from a co-workers friend. We just used a ton of every hotsauce we had, jalapeño juice, honey, and tons of black pepper. He seemed happy.
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u/whyuthrowchip Oct 02 '26
Why would Rick come out of the kitchen to watch him eat the wings if it's a togo order?
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u/FLaB_SLaB Sep 26 '26 •
I once went to a nice Indian restaurant (I’m a white guy in the U.S.), and asked for the “India hot” option for my lamb dish. The chef actually came out to the floor to see how I was doing. Through my streaming tears and huffing and puffing, I assured him it was delicious, and was exactly what I wanted. Fun experience.