This happened to our Chinese-Japanese intern who ordered Very Thai Spicy at Krua Thai in NoHo. They told her that she wouldn’t be able to send the dish back and refund would not be possible. According to her and her taste buds, there was zero heat in her dish. It also happened to her when she tried to order extra spicy (level 10) at Jinya…and the service staff was rather condescending and told her that 3 is already very hot. Whatever arrived was not spicy.
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So bizarre! Especially at a Japanese place to a customer who presumably looks Asian. Wonder what the thought process of the wait staff was (and if it might be more likely to happen to female customers…).
All this dan dan talk has me thinking about walking down to Killer Noodle for lunch today (if there’s not a huge line)…
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+1
Back in maybe 2003, there were no white people at Krua Thai in Noho, stuff was decently spicy. If I brought a Thai friend I could get it Thai spicy which was considerably hotter. Now you can’t get anything spicy. I’m guessing the same issue with Jinya. Everything is so mild at the Guisado’s in Burbank as well. Downtown LA Guisado’s is fine.
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I don’t go that often in a big group, but when I do there seems to be some sort of critical mass where it’ll work. I think gender and also perhaps how masculine or feminine you look probably have something to do with it as well.
I’m fine when I’m alone, but as soon as I bring one white friend a lot of places will then turn the heat down. If I ask at Mexican or Korean, or really almost anything they will actually make it spicier. I know enough Mandarin to convince the Chinese, so I really only have issues at Thai or Indian.
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Chengdu Taste had great Dan Dan noodles. I couldn’t stop eating them!
I usually have success with “I want to cry into my food”
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Oooh. Will give it a shot and see how it goes.
Killer Noodle opening up in San Gabriel soon next to the Hilton
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More years ago than I care to admit, when my husband and I were dating, we somehow stumbled upon a really good chinese restaurant, I think in Canyon Country. The waiter was very nervous with us, when we placed our non-bland order. (No almond or lemon chicken. : ) But I looked at the waiter and said “I know we look very white. But we actually like spicy food. You can give it to us - it’s okay.” We had to reassure him few times but when we got our food? Awesome! Not blazing hot like “You said you want hot, let’s see how you handle this!” but actually the perfect level of spicy heat. So sometimes I guess you just have to address the elephant in the room.
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This.
As the late, great JGold (RIP) would say: “Make them deal with you.”
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I don’t know exactly why, but from the start of my going to the SGV, I rarely have had any trouble with getting spicy food. I was warned a few times, but convinced them. I can only think of one or two times it got toned down. Later, being able to say “I like spicy” or “We all like spicy” in Chinese proved very useful.
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I have yet to get a dish at a Korean restaurant that was spicy at all compared with some Sichuan, Hunan, Thai, or Indian dishes.
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Have you tried Odumak, which is the best of both worlds? The best of both worlds: Szechuan and Korean.
how is the Dan Dan at Guisado’s?
They just don’t do that. Even Korean spiciest is a balanced overall flavor and level of spicy that’s in line with the dish as my Korean consultant explained
Jokbal can be pretty spicy
That’s true for great spicy Thai, Sichuan, Hunan, and Indian dishes as well. They just know how to achieve balance with higher levels of heat.
That wouldn’t be too unreasonable a description but you might be thinking of zha jiang mian, which fits that description a bit better IMO. Then again my cat eats dry food so what do I know
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Lol in my sleepy state as I read this, I initially thought you admitted to eating dry cats.
Everyone knows moist cats are the best way to enjoy them. (I kid! I kid!)
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