10 mouth-scorching dishes to try – if you dare

With diners becoming more adventurous, restaurants are amping up spicy flavors. Chilies have always piqued people’s interest, but recently the trend has been fueled by people trying to outdo each other on social media, says Chris Wilmoth, corporate chef at Lee Kum Kee (usa.lkk.com), which makes Asian condiments including Sriracha Chili. He works with restaurants developing dishes, and shares some of his favorites with Larry Bleiberg for Paste BN.

Big G’s Pizza
Chicago
Daring diners need to try the Dance with El Diablo pizza. The thin-crust pie comes topped with chipotle sauce, grilled jalapeno and habanero peppers, jalapeno Havarti cheese, spicy marinara sauce, and chicken marinated in Valentina hot sauce. In short: Watch out! “This pizza has so many different levels of spiciness,” says Wilmoth, who suggests washing it down with a pitcher of cold beer. big-gspizza.com

Hot Sauce and Panko
San Francisco
This Nob Hill take-out chicken wing shop offers a smoking hot sauce made with ghost and Carolina reaper peppers that clock in at 1.4 million SHU (Scoville Heat Units), a measure of pepper pungency. (By contrast, jalapenos rate a mere 5,000 on the scale.) “These peppers are searing hot. If they’re advertising Scoville units, they’re saying: ‘Be prepared’,” Wilmoth says. hotsauceandpanko.com

Brick Lane Curry House
Montclair, N.J.
Named after London’s center of Indian food, this New Jersey restaurant has a Phaal Hall of Fame for anyone that finishes its version of the curry developed in England. The spices are so extreme that chefs have been known to wear a respirator while the dish is on the stove. Wilmoth says Indian heat has a unique profile. “It’s about layers because of all the different spices they use.” bricklanemontclair.com

China Blossom Restaurant and Lounge
North Andover, Mass.
Don’t be fooled by this 50-year-old traditional Chinese restaurant. It features a secret menu item, an egg roll made with a naga viper chili, which for several years held the record for the world’s hottest pepper. “They do some traditional stuff and some things that are more adventurous,” Wilmoth says. chinablossom.com

Pam’s Kitchen
Seattle
Head to the Pacific Northwest for some Caribbean heat. The owner, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, puts her own spin on dishes from the island nation, including spicy string beans with jerk chicken topped with habanero sauce. “It’s traditional Caribbean cuisine,” WIlmoth says. “This is more about the flavor of heat rather than it being crazy spicy.” pams-kitchen.com

Chuan’s
Temple City, Calif.
No need to cross the Pacific to sample the highlights of the Chinese province of Sichuan and its capital city Chengdu, world-renowned for spicy cuisine. “These flavors are the best Sichuan food I’ve had in the States,” Wilmoth says. The restaurant offers street-style foods in an upscale setting, with menu highlights like spicy cold noodles, spicy Sichuan-style duck and “Suicidal Potato,” featuring the numbing Sichuan peppercorn. facebook.com/ChuansLA

Prince's Hot Chicken Shack
Nashville
Southern fried chicken takes on a whole new personality when it’s seasoned with chili sauce. While this Music City specialty has become so popular that even fast-food chains are offering their version, it’s worth checking out the original, offered in a heat range starting at plain and working up. “You can go in with your family and if someone wants to play hardball, they can get theirs ‘XXX Hot’,” Wilmoth says. princeshotchicken.com

Pok Pok PDX
Portland, Ore.
This Thai eatery offers an array of searing Southeast Asian flavors. Wilmoth particularly likes their grilled pork and chicken dishes flavored with sambal oelek, a fermented chili sauce with a sour citrus note. “It’s very spicy, but it’s addicting and so refreshing,” he says. pokpokpdx.com

Mission Chinese
New York
The celebrated Manhattan restaurant with San Francisco roots attracts chiliheads with its off-the-charts spicy Chongqing Chicken Wings. It gets its heat from a blend of Sichuan peppercorn, cumin and whole dried chilies. “It’s spicy with a numbing note, and they serve it with cilantro, which is fresh and bright,” Wilmoth says. mcfny.com

Hypnotic Donuts
Dallas
Jump start your morning at this Lone Star bakery, which serves the Triple 6, a vanilla cake doughnut with a habanero and passion fruit icing. Wilmoth says the combination of sweet and spicy is approachable and growing in popularity. “It’s all about the icing. Passion fruit is so sweet and aromatic. It’s a very unusual combination, just delicious.” hypnoticdonuts.com