A wine with chili cheese fries

[CKatCook]

Since lately I have been getting into wines more, my husband and I are going to a movie theater that have a baloney with a dinner service. Not anything fancy, mind you, just burgers and such. I was looking at the menu and the chilli cheese fries are way too tempting. This movie theater also has a wine selection. I am convinced that wine can pair with anything.

My question is this and because I thought it would be a fun question...what wine should I have with the chilli cheese fries?

Thanks!

[Dave the Cook]

Depends on the heat-level of the chili, I think. But generally, I've found that young reds work pretty well with spicy food: Australian shiraz or grenache (or a blend of the two). Sometimes you can find a dry-but-not-too-dry riesling that works, and a rose (or sparkling rose wine) is worth a try.

[JAZ]

I think that with limited wine selections, a dry champagne can be your best choice for spicy appetizer foods. There are undoubtedly better choices, given an infinite list, but it will at least be passable if the list is limited.

[nickrey]

Hot flavours such as chili benefit from a pairing with sweet flavours, which provide balance.

Not too sweet but something like a Traminer or Gewurztraminer or similar spicy but floral wines should pair well.

(From Wikipedia) The variety has high natural sugar and the wines are white and usually off-dry, with a flamboyant bouquet of lychees. Dry Gewürztraminers may also have aromas of roses, passion fruit and floral notes.

Some Australian wineries pair traminer with Reisling grapes, which should also work.

These also go very nicely with hotter Asian foods.

[mrs.albanese]

I love the idea of a sparkling wine like cava or prosecco with chili cheese fries. Never tried the pairing, but I bet it will work deliciously. ( I have been known to pair pigs-in-a-blanket with sparkling wine, yum) If not one of those, I would go with a chilled rose. Any of those would have enough body to not be overpowered by the full flavors of the food, and would also have a crisp (& bubbly) character to balance with the rich flavors. Most important is that you enjoy them and have a great time!

[Katie Meadow]

Is this the kind of movie theater where you eat WHILE you watch the movie? If that's the case, and you can stand to watch a movie with a lot of slurping and clattering going on, then what you drink with your chili cheese fries should be wide open. If you come in late and get the last two seats on the lumpy couch with broken springs and the wobbling postage stamp of a table, get the white wine, which won't stain. But that would be the kind of place where nothing has a bouquet of lychee.

I don't see how the chili necessarily makes red wine a no-no. There are plenty of very spicy dishes-- "chicken a la diavolo" or hot Italian sausages or pizza with peppers--that you might drink red wine with. And you certainly have plenty of occasion to drink a red with fries, like when you have steakfrites.

Oh, you did mean balcony, right? Because if they serve baloney, or even bologna, then maybe a beer would be better.