Hot! Hot! Hot!
About 1pm Jan and I headed up to Webster to try a new place that’s getting good reviews, The Cookshack. Located in the old Black-Eyed Pea building at the corner of Bay Area Blvd and Hwy 3, it’s been open now for a few weeks, so it’s time to give it a try.
It’s a simple menu, with just different combinations of Chicken Tenders, Waffles, and Ribs, and like a number of places where we’ve recently been, you order at the counter and then they bring it to your table.
Jan got the 3 Grilled Chicken Tenders and a Side Salad.
I ordered the Chicken and Waffles, with Sweet Potato Fries as a side, and then the young man asked me, “How hot?” As Jan chuckled, I said, “As hot as you’ve got.” And he said, “OK, Texas Hot”
But when I looked up at the menu board, though it’s hard to see here, there was a whole other area to the right of ‘Texas Hot’ called ‘AMF’.
So I told him I wanted ‘AMF’. He looked at me kind of wide-eyed, and stammered, “You’ll have to sign a waiver.” So he rang us up, apparently so flustered that he forgot to have me sign the waiver.
As I headed over to our table, the owner said that he should have told me just get one tender at the AMF level since I wouldn’t be able to eat one, much less four, and they would just go to waste.
Jan chuckled … again.
When the owner came over later, he was amazed that I was not only able to eat one, but two. And the only reason I didn’t eat all four was that I also ate two waffle pieces and some of the fries. So I was just full.
He told me that he had started requiring a waiver because at his Houston location he had people demand their money back because they were too hot, and in a couple of cases, several people almost passed out and had to be helped out of the restaurant. He did seem a little upset when I told him that I hadn’t actually signed the waiver.
He did tell me that he actually has two more levels hotter than what I got today, but I got the idea that nobody has ever ordered it.
Now as far as how hot these tenders were, they were very, very hot, possibly the hottest thing that I’ve ever eaten in a restaurant. But I’ve made things hotter myself using my Carolina Reaper Pepper Flakes.
And it didn’t take long for my personal hot food meter to begin registering. For me, my bald head starts sweating and my nose starts running. And boy, did it this time.
Now, as far as next time, I’ve got to take up the challenge and try the ‘Two Levels Hotter’ version. But only for one tender. The rest I will probably get at the Texas Hot level.
Sometimes it’s worth beating a challenge, and that’s why I’ll try one at the very hottest, but overall it’s just not pleasant to eat. So a little less heat next time.
But we will definitely go back. Soon.
Thought For The Day:
