Mie Thai question

[Casey]

We have friends that we like to dine out with, and are

thinking of making Mie Thai our next stop.  My husband and

I love Thai food, and our friends are eager to try new types

of food, but the husband is not crazy about spicy.  Is it

possible for him to get something non-spicy at Mie Thai?

Kim

[Jason Perlow]

What town is it in?

[Casey]

Mie Thai is in Woodbridge....

[Rosie]

=Mark goes there all the time. Maybe he'll check in and help us out.

[=Mark]

I myself actually have a hard time getting them to make it hot enough, but then I am actually a card carrying Chilehead (Got 2 cards actually...).  None the less, the staff is very concious of the heat/spice level of their food.  Most any of the dishes can be made mild or totally with out heat as they are all cooked to order.  They don't make any money by serving dishes that are so spicy they get sent back to the kitchen.

Some of my favorites are the mussels appetizer with Thai basil, the Mixed sea food soup with coconut milk, lemon grass, galanga, chili, mushrooms, lime leaves and lime.  Their boneless crispy roast duck comes with half a dozen variations, all good!

A copy of their menu can be seen at:

<A HREF="http://www.exit109.com/~mstevens/miethai.html">http://www.exit109.com/~mstevens/miethai.html</A>

[Casey]

Thanks Mark!  I'll let you know when we go and how it turns out....I'm love spicy food myself, especially good Thai, so I'm really looking forward to trying this place, which is practically in my backyard....

[Rosie]

We were at Mie Thai tonight. And since =Mark said that they can't make the food hot enough we ordered it mild and medium. My lips are still numb and Lowell has never seen my face so red. But I have never seen his ears so red.;) In any case, the food was great. The one disappointment was the coconut shrimp which was a special appetizer. The steamed dumpling were delicious as was the bean thread noodles with vegetable soup. For entrees we had the crispiest duck ever with onions, asparagus and cashews; a chicken dish with a fresh chili sauce and rice noodles with shrimp, roast pork, peppers and onions. No dessert. Next time I go here I will order the food extra mild!

[jhlurie]

I've been to at least one place where the waiter asked us to tell them--on a scale from 1 to 10--how hot we wanted our food.  Of course, even then, its subjective (Mark or Jason or my idea of a "5" might blow a few heads up)... but its better than nothing.

My own reckoning (skipping some numbers) is as follows:

1 = Nada.  Not more than basic levels of even salt or black pepper.

3 = "Normal" food.  If I sat down and had a relatively normal dish at a random restaurant it would be about this.

4 = Sharp.  Strong with black pepper, onion or garlic (or some other strong taste), but not more than trace amounts of capsaicin.  Usually these are dishes using tiny amounts of basic red pepper.

6 = Spicy.  Has other strong flavors, but the capsaicin starts to dominate.  Its either the first or last thing you taste, but not necessarily BOTH the first and last thing.

7 = Hot.  This is the point where you start to need to take a drink of water after each bite.

8 = Very Hot.  A dish where Cayenne--if used--is the weakest pepper and not the strongest.  This is the level where I look around to make sure I've got plenty of rice before I chow down.

9 = Volcano.  The level where even a chili-heads face starts to turn colors.  You can still taste other things in the dish... but only if they are very strong flavors.

10 = Inferno.  The capsaicin overrides all other tastes in the food.

Something like Wasabi mustard ruins this curve, because its a non-capsaicin taste that can be just as hot.

[=Mark]

I like to separate spicyness from heat, since spicyness is a reaction of taste using the taste buds, while heat is the reaction of pain receptors to a specific set of chemicals.  To me spices consist of black pepper, thyme, coriander, cumin and the like, wheras heat can be produced by mustard, horseradish, ginger (which, by the way crosses over into the taste category), and most notibly chile peppers.

One can, over time develop a resistance to the capsaicinoids which give the chiles their heat, much like the body can build resistance to any number of chemicals.  When this happens the chilehead can detect the underlying flavors in a hot dish that less experienced chile chompers simply get lost in the flames.  The concept that overindulgence in hot foods will somehow "burn out" your ability to taste is simply rubbish.  Folks who like it hot can actually taste more flavors in a hot & spicy dish than those with milder tendancies.  My having a fairly good resistance to capsaicin renders me a dangerous commodity when asked to rate the heat of a dish by those with milder sensibilities, right Rosie?  :-)

[Rosie]

Right. Consider me one with milder sensibilities! ;)

[Rachel Perlow]

I thought I'd bring this thread back to the top due to our upcoming eGullet dinner at Mie Thai.