The Ring of Fire
Phaal Curry
From Bangladesh by way of Britain, phaal is a scorcher even among the spiciest of curries. In San Diego, there is precisely one place to order it: World Curry. Slow cooked with tomato, garlic, and ginger, the chicken curry gets its searing heat from a combination of Thai, serrano, habanero, and ghost peppers. Only a few dozen tough-tongued patrons have finished a 12-ounce portion of it, served on a pyramid of rice, in 30 minutes; those who have are immortalized on a whiteboard. Just a single customer—who to date has endured 100 of the brow-soaking phaal dinners—has earned his very own whiteboard and the undisputed title of “Phaal King.”
Pacific Beach
Scorpion Wings
If you are of sound mind and body and agree to release Regents Pizzeria of any liability, you may sign your tongue away on the waiver required to order these wings. The assault begins with a mixture of the two hottest types of Melinda’s Hot Sauce, scorpion pepper and ghost pepper. The wings are tossed in the sauce, which the restaurant claims packs 2 million Scoville units (your typical habanero barely cracks a quarter million), and served with a blue cheese dressing for relief. “A lot like its name, the sauce hits you really hard, really fast, but the heat dissipates quickly,” says General Manager Cary Reutter.
University Cityregentspizzeria
“Thai Hot”
At this Northeastern Thai restaurant, only a few brave regulars dare request their dishes “Thai hot,” which adds a chili tamarind sauce that clocks in at a searing 15 on the normal 1-to-10 spiciness scale.
Point Loma issarathaisd
Hotter than Hell Burger
This devilishly fiery burger takes every opportunity to add heat to a grass-fed beef patty and brioche bun. To wit: spicy Italian sausage and ghost pepper Jack cheese, topped with pickled jalapeño, habanero slaw, and a smearing of habanero jam.
University Citydraftrepublic
What’s That Smell?
Époisses de Bourgogne
Although the taste of this custardy, cream-colored French cheese is delicate, the aroma is putrid. Made of cow’s milk and rinsed with pomace brandy, Époisses belongs to the ultra-malodorous rind-washed variety. Venissimo Cheese regularly imports it, packaged in little wooden discs. Just wait until you get home to try it.
Three locations
Durian Bao
Durian has such a powerfully noxious stench that it’s actually banned from the Singaporean subway—but it’s softened when the fruit is blended into a sweet egg custard made with coconut milk and baked into a rice flour bun. To maximize the bouquet, eat the bao freshly fried, with ice cream or by its smelly self.
Mira Mesa
Stinky Tofu Hot Soup
Ubiquitous in Hong Kong and Taiwan, stinky tofu is—how shall we say this?—funkier than James Brown’s socks. It can be fermented with milk, greens, herbs, and even meat, served warm, cold, stewed, deep fried, or as this Taiwanese spot in Convoy does it, in spicy soup with cabbage, fish cake, quail egg, and pork blood rice cakes for maximum funk.
Kearny Mesa tastypot
Alternative Proteins
Water Buffalo Burger
This restaurant specializes in exotic meats, like ostrich, camel, and water buffalo, a domesticated relative of bison and yak. In Asia, this beast of burden is used for everything from milking to plowing fields. At Crazee Burger, it’s slipped into a bun with Mae Ploy cilantro cream sauce.
North Park
Gusanos de Maguey
Gusanos de maguey, or agave worms, are the larvae of butterflies or moths that feed on the plants that beget mezcal (and are the very same critters pickled in bottles of it). These grubs have been a nutty-tasting source of protein for people in Oaxaca for centuries. They can be eaten as a taco filling, dried and ground into a flavored salt, or fried to a crisp and piled on the plate—as they’re done at this Southern Mexican spot.
Escondido
Gator Po’ Boy
Flout the food chain with toothsome chunks of fried alligator served with tomatoes, pickles, and a choice of three sauces (rémoulade, spicy, honey mustard) on a buttered French roll.
Liberty Station
The Adventurous Eaters’ Checklist
Balut Surprise at Gaya Gaya Bar & Kitchen
Balut Surprise
In the Philippines, balut—a steamed, fertilized duck egg, aged up to three weeks—is served on the street. Once peeled, the hard-boiled mix of embryo, egg white, and yolk is eaten by hand with vinegar and salt. To save diners the trouble of peeling, chef DJ Tangalin sets the peeled egg on caramelized onion and swaddles it in puff pastry. The balut is plated with a chili, garlic, and scallion butter sauce and, rather than vinegar, served with pickled radish. “We’re adding a little French take on it,” Tangalin says. “You have a sweet element, the earthiness of the balut, the acidity of the radish, and heat from the sauce.”
Mira Mesa
Cabeza de Res en Su Jugo
“Cow head in its juice” is the specialty at the aptly named De Cabeza. To make the Sonoran and Sinaloan favorite, meat from every part of the head—tongue, eye, brain, and cheek—is simmered with onion and garlic, creating a flavorful clear broth. The chopped meat is added back into the soup and served with tortillas for assembling your own heady tacos.
Chula Vista
Wash It All Down
The Adventurous Eaters’ Checklist
Tejuino at Las Uvas Tejuinos la Dona
Tejuino
Las Uvas Tejuinos la Dona
Corn masa and panela sugar are boiled and briefly fermented to create tejuino, a refreshing if pungent beverage often poured over shaved ice and served with lime juice and a pinch of salt. Drink it from a plastic bag in Jalisco, mixed into drinks at cocktail bars, or with scoops of lime ice cream at this National City juice bar.
632 National City Boulevard, National City
The Adventurous Eaters’ Checklist
Cow’s head soup at De Cabeza | Photos: Madison Parker
