AH and I love food. There are great food places in Los Angeles. Ergo, a lot of entries touch on food, and this entry is no exception.

Unlike lots of Americans, AH and I lurve the spicy food good. Over a meal with other friends, I lamented my general plight to another spice lover. We moaned over how we ask for SPICY dishes, but usually, we are only served dishes that taste at least like something. Said other friends wondered how we could subject ourselves to blazing infernos in our mouths. I think our answer was quite succinct: “Loving spicy food is a slippery slope. Once you start, it’s all downhill from there.”

Now if there’s any kind of food I like, it’s Thai food, especially the hot hot kind. This search has led me to many places in which I have found goodness and great disappointment. This week, it led me into a local Thai shop that I’ve passed often but never entered till now. Smiling brightly at the cashier, who was a native Thai, I asked her to give me the real, naked truth: Was the food any good and would they make it hot?

I think food in America is often very safe. In order to cater to the tastes of a larger clientele, restaurants make their food quite bland. This is especially true for “staple” dishes: pasta, pizza, sandwiches….ok maybe lots of dishes. But it’s interesting when you come in with a challenge. When I questioned the veracity of the cashier’s statement that yes-they-serve-spicy-food was legit, her eyes gleamed. Her face brightened. She assured me that the red curry was the hottest around, that native Thai customers raved the food reminded them of their mother’s and that customers came from miles away from their food.

We laughed over Thai tourism (I’ve been). We marveled over how much good Thai cooking gets overlooked. Then, I decided to issue another challenge. In addition to my red curry, I ordered a side of pad thai. Like many people, I love pad thai, especially good pad thai. But as it is a “staple” dish, I think that a lot of restaurants make it rather mediocre. I explained to the cashier my theory that you knew you found a good place if they handled something as simple as pad thai with love.

Oh her eyes sparked! But let me say, in the end, her boasts were completely on point. The curry sizzled in my mouth and I’ve thought about the pad thai for days.  I want more.

The sugar part of this entry is in reference to a “Hawaiian” restaurant I wandered into. While studying the menu with that restaurant’s cashier, I was told that the only really, truly Hawaiian thing on the menu was the BBQ pork sandwich and sweet potato fries. The sandwich came with a faux spicy sauce, which actually wasn’t as disappointing as I would have assumed. And the sweet potato fries were sprinkled with sugar.

Yes, I make friends easily.

And oh! They stopped making the amazing chai and passion fruit cupcakes at my favorite bakery! Damn you suburbia! Get out and try something other than boring red velvet! It doesn’t even taste like anything!