spiciest food in new orleans

[YingZheng]

Im going to NO soon and want to know where the spiciest food in new orleans is. Painfully spicy.

Crawfish especially.

Thanks,
Spenser

[Bill Hunt]

When you say "spicy," do you mean, "bring me to my knees, with a defibrillator, HOT" or do you mean "heavenly spicy, with multiple layers of spicy flavors?"

There are major differences.

Most New Orleans cuisine is more "spicy," than "hot," though some will definitely think "heat."

Good luck and enjoy,

Hunt

[bukzin]

I have found after several trips to the great city of NO
that spicy is hard to find.

As much as folks tout the food there, I find much of it
a bit bland.

Someone set me straight.

[roro1831]

My grandmother and grandfather were cajun and the food they cooked was not spicy. I think someone along the way marketed cajun food as spicy which it really isn't, just like for some reason I would expect Cuban food to be spicy and it isn't,at least to my tastes. Although when I cook for friends up here they find it spicy since they are not used to spicy foods.

Cajun cooking is about the depth of flavor as opposed to spice. Slow cooked one pot dishes are what my grandmother cooked all the time.

If I want my food more spicy I add hot sauce.

My crawfish on the othert hand tend to come out spicy, especially the second and third batches.

[uptownlibrarian]

Yeah, my in-laws in Lafayette don't do many foods real spicy right out of the pot, but they (and we) do go through a ton of hot sauce.

The spiciest crawfish I have ever had were from Dwight's in Lafayette. Hotter than any third batch of home cooked I've had. You can order it there at different levels of hotness, because like most places in Acadiana they add seasoning post-boil on the outside, so they'll just put a ton of red pepper on the hot orders.

[roro1831]

I hate places that season the outside after the boil.

[uptownlibrarian]

Seasoning on the outside is pretty much the norm west of Baton Rouge. It's another indicator of the city/county dichotomy, like tomato in jambalaya.

[roro1831]

There used to be a place in Baton Rouge that did an all you can eat crawfish boil and they seasoned the outside. That was the first I had ever seen that and the last time I went to that place. It was right by Jubans.

[uptownlibrarian]

You know speaking of crawfish in Baton Rouge, there's a new place called Beausoliel (in the Bocage shopping center, I think it was Silver Spoon before) where I had boiled smoked crawfish a couple weeks ago. It was like regular boiled crawfish but it was smoked at some point during the cooking process. I was skeptical, but it was delicious. I'm craving it now. If anyone has a chance to go there, check it out! The other food was good too. Good addition to the Baton Rouge scene.

[texasredtop]

About half the places over here in SE Texas do it that way. Those are the places I avoid. One place does some really good ones so I get them and ask them not to sprinkle after they're cooked. Works out well.

[Bill Hunt]

Interesting.

I have done many decades of Cajun dining, from personal homes to restaurants in the areas, and have almost always found Cajun food to be "spicy." Now, that is not "hot," but "spicy." There are major differences between the two, and those are greatly important. "Spice," can have "heat," but it does not need to. "Spicy" covers a very broad area, regarding cuisine, and those spices can come from around the globe.

When one considers the cuisine of the Cajun culture, they would discover that the available fare was not the ultimate. Spices were required to make the dishes more edible, and more flavorful. The spices used were those available. They could have been sassafras, chilies, other peppers, or various herbs, grown in the areas. While maybe not "hot," by most descriptions, there were spices, and they usually contributed to a "mutli-layered" flavor profile.

Hunt

[lenwood]

At one time, Louisiana cooking may have been one of the spiciest in the country. I remember a neighbor making us some Turtle Sauce Piquant that was delicious but spicier than I was used to, but unforgettable and still looking for it again. But now that there are such cuisines that are easily accessible such as Thai, Indian, Mexican, Korean-- the local cuisine doesn't stand out as extremely spicy.

[rouxdauphine]

Well stated!

[Bill Hunt]

Wow, I can only surmise that you are dining at the wrong places.

NOLA cuisine is not usually that "hot," but "spicy" is seldom missing.

Maybe you and I have just been dining at different locations?

Hunt

[lenwood]

No, I think it's the meaning of the word as you just pointed out. I was thinking heat. Especially when the original poster said "painfully spicy".

[roro1831]

As was I, ihear spicy and I think heat, which is a little different than something that is ell seasoned.

[collardman]

I know of no painfully spicy New Orleans cooking. If you want painfully spicy douse your food generously with Tabasco sauce. For spicy crawfish go to someone's back yard boil and sample the second or third batch after the boilmaster has had a good run at the Abitas.

Or as suggested, eat Thai or Indian.

[roro1831]

Agreed on the crawfish, once I get drunk the subsequent batches get really spicy. But going to a restaurant they won't be that spicy as they need to sell them.

[montuori]

Although almost certainly not what you're looking for, the drunken noodles ordered "Thai hot" at Sukho Thai (in the Marigny, I can't speak to the Uptown location) might be the most spicy but still flavorful dish I've had anywhere. The green curry beef is up there as well but the quality of the beef is hit or miss. The service is awful and it's BYOB (the R Bar will usually sell you a six pack or a bottle of wine to go if you tell them what it's for) but for a cheap and easy take out lunch it's not bad.

[shanefink]

I got the spicy (not the thai spicy) at Sukho Thai and it was too hot for me to eat at the Uptown location. It was too spicy, and not in a good way.