If you’re going to put chili powder in something, even if you consider it to be not that much, warn people.
I was at Big Bowl down on Rush street tonight and I ordered pad thai, which is traditionally a very sweet dish, which is (almost) never spicy.
I took a few bites and realized exactly how spicy it was (not much to most people, pretty damn spicy to my insanely bland pallette), then noticed that there were small pieces of hot pepper in it.
When I called the waiter over to ask, he mentioned that they also put some chili powder in the sauce to give it a kick. I asked to see the menu again, and of course, no mention of hot peppers or chili powder.
I can understand why they didn’t mark it spicy, because it wasn’t too spicy, but throwing chili powder into something can really irritate people with a low tolerance for spice. Like me, for instance.
It’s not as big a deal to me, since I only get rather unpleasant indigestion, but to somebody allergic to chili powder this could have been a serious problem.
So please, if you ever start your own restaurant, warn people if you put spices in there. You don’t have to mark things as spicy, just tell people what you’re putting in your damn food.
Thank you.