Pan

Yes they are, and I hope you're not suggesting I'm being insincere.

I've personally experienced sweating from very hot-peppery food. I really think this is well-established as a scientific fact: Why red-hot peppers are red-hot by Dr. Ricki Lewis Medical/Biotechnology Editor Linda Bartoshuk Q&A This is a very interesting Q&A by scientist Linda Bartoshuk, Ph.D., whose biography you can read here. And I don't think you can point to chili in particular as being used to mask the taste of old unrefrigerated meat and fish (not that you were doing that, but please bear with me). What about salt? What about a multitude of spices that aren't particularly "hot" (cumin, cinammon, cloves, etc.)? (That is, I don't think hot chili bite can be easily conflated with spicing in general.) On the other hand, what about the popularity of sauces that are specifically made from rotten fish and shrimp, such as nam pla and belacan?

Thanks a lot, pjs.

Please give the cross street, Iain.

Thanks for the suggestions, JJ.

The W and N both go there. The R does not, but goes to 71st & Continental in Forest Hills, instead.

Suvir, thanks for responding. It's amazing that you're able to get a meaty texture out of jackfruit! I visited my parents today, and my father commented on what a good value your cuisine is. He really felt that for the quality of the food, the prices were inexpensive. My mother remarked that she enjoyed meeting you, but I think the next time she comes, she'll order less hot-peppery dishes and leave that to me. Suvir, you're very gracious, but allow me to say that while I have no doubt you and Hemant are getting a lot of fulfillment from being able to cook the cuisine that pleases and inspires you, you are also doing New York a great favor by offering us this wonderful food!

Thanks, JJ. I was talking with my friend mascarpone (that's his eGullet handle) over dinner tonight about Craft and Craftbar. Both of us feel like Craft is too expensive for us to go to unless someone else is paying, but I'm intrigued by Craftbar. It's a good deal cheaper, right?

I think it's excellent--by a lot, my favorite of the ones I've tried in this country. I'd say it's a little salty but excellent. I doubt I have as wide a selection to compare from as Eric does, though.

Funny, a crispy cauliflower with that kind of sauce could have been fish to me. It tasted good, though. Oh, I was thinking about the conversation we had with Suvir and Hemant about Bengali restaurants. The one they were talking about in Bay Ridge (I think) was new, but the one in Jackson Heights has been around for a while.

Just how much are we talking?

Jon, what do you mean by the oily and non-oily varieties? You mean when you're having hot oil it's different from chewing on a dried chili? Is the difference between chili alone and chili + oil anything more than simply the chili feel plus the oil feel? The thing about "peppery" is it also encompasses black pepper varieties, which have a comparable feel in the mouth (chewing on peppercorns, etc.), but powdered black or white pepper can do things to the nose that I think powdered cayenne pepper doesn't do.

Would you say the same about book, music, and movie reviewers? I think that's pretty much the norm there from my experience with newspapers and magazines. Good point. Thought there is one level of insulation: The author him-/herself isn't giving away the book, CD, or screener to you. Furthermore, I don't think it's a universal practice for restaurants to comp the meals of critics, whereas giving free review copies is a pretty universal practice. And it's a hell of a lot less work to copy a CD than to make a complete meal.

I see your point, confirmed chili-lover though I am.

Interesting you should say that, Cusina. I also enjoy hot food in the winter because it counteracts repiratory congestion. But in the summertime, hot food makes you sweat and cools you off, which is why I think it's generally true (with some really notable exceptions like Korea) that the hotter the climate is, the hotter the food is.

Don't do that! Then we can't ever get together for dim sum! It was a pleasure meeting you again. P.S. I know how frustrating it is to lose a post. ARRRGHHH!

I just can't imagine Gobdol Bibimbap without hot sauce! But I'd note that Gam Mee Ok serves excellent Korean-style cold cuts and such-like, and those are good even without hot sauce (though better with ).

I don't know if you're a reviewer or if the meal reports we all post on eGullet are reviews, but I now know we can all get sued in England! Well in that case, I'll never post that all restaurants in England suck! [Folks, FYI, I've never had the pleasure of going to England. ]

Metal! Fortunately, both times, I saw them and didn't injure myself. Had I been injured, I would have sued them.

I don't think that's an extreme position. If you don't respect such critics, you don't respect them. Besides, you expressed your viewpoint eloquently.

I wonder how many people would argue with that. As a customer, I'll write off a restaurant if I my first experience with them is bad, or if bad things happen repeatedly after I've been a regular customer (such as the local Chinese restaurant that included nails in my Roast Chicken Noodle Soup twice and never got any more business from me). But as a reviewer, generalizing based on a single meal is very hazardous from a standpoint of fairness. One thing I'm thinking about is whether posting meal reports on eGullet makes me a reviewer, and I don't think it does, unless I'm thought of as an amateur reviewer, with all the differences that implies vis-a-vis professionals.

On a page from Gernot Katzer's Spice Dictionary, I found the following remarks on the ingestion of peppery food (which he uses the word "pungent" to describe): I know we've had some discussions about this before, but I doubt we've exhausted the topic. For what it's worth, I happen to frequently enjoy peppery food often, which is no doubt in major part a product of my experience with hot pepper in Malaysia when I was 10-12. But beyond that, I'm not sure it would be easier for me to explain why I enjoy peppery food than why I enjoy sweet or sour food, for example.

I guess you're right about the chicken, now that I think about it, but what I remember as fish was cauliflower??? I don't think the Bengali place is that new, though. I seem to remember mentions in Chowhound when I was still a member, so that goes back a couple of years, I guess.

My reaction is that that's despicable on both counts. Critics depending on getting their meal comped face conflict-of-interest problems in rewieving objectively, restaurants comping them to try to bribe the reviewers are engaging in corruption that ill serves the dining public, and publications not reimbursing heavy expenses that their employees are required to pay also really bothers me.

OK, I've now been trawling Google trying to find out a breakdown of genii (? genuses?) under the subfamily Rutoideae, but I haven't found a chart that shows this.