This note comes from an HSB reader – I think a trip to Chicago is in order as well!
If any of you guys have the time or are in Chicago, there is a restaurant called Heaven on Seven, owned by chef Jimmy Bannos. They have a “Wall of Pain” with a huge collection of hot sauces, and every table is filled with about 20 hot sauces. If you ask, they will bring out some hot sauces like Da Bomb’s the Answer, Pure Cap, Dave’s Insanity, etc. I recently had their hot “Hot as a Mutha” Pasta, which they usually make you sign a waiver to eat. It is really hot and I could only eat half a plate, but I am sure a chilehead with more tolerance than me can go through it all. Anyway, the dish is this buttery linguine with chunks of chicken breasts, bell peppers, and other ingredients?, and has an overwhelmingly smoky habanero flavor. Hot as a Mutha pasta is quite good, but tough to handle, and Heaven tops it all off with a raw Habanero and cajun seasoning sprinkled oe’er the spicy devil straps of pain.
Also, Heaven on Seven has a club called “Hot as a Mutha Monday” which is advertised as “A Monthly Dinner for the Spicy Food Enthusiast.” I would love to go to this event — you have to make reservations and sign a waiver — that includes a 5 course meal that gets progressively hotter. The meal is served with cajun martini “to fuel the fire” or southern limeade “to tame the flame.”
Their website is “www.heavenonseven.com” Jimmy Bannos has won an award for his “Hot as Mutha” hotsauce, I think in 2001 Fiery Foods Show.
Thanks!
Thanks for the tip Karen!
6 responses to “Heaven on Seven”
This has been on our “to do” list on any trip to Chicago for a few years now. We met the Heaven on Seven guys out in Albuquerque back in ’01 at a FF show, and ALL their sauces were amazingly good. In fact, they snickered whenever they could get people to try the Hot as a Mutha sauce just to see them sweat or yelp in pain. Excellent stuff!
Nice review. Chicago is beyond me though. Anybody know of a similar place in NY city? I am meeting friends there soon and one of them fancies himself as a Chilehead! 🙂 Thanks.
Tasker – Take them to the Brick Lane Curry House – Have them try out the P’hall curry, it’s a doozy!
Will do! Thanks Nick.
Road trip anyone?
What exactly makes the P’hall curry so hot, I heard about it. Thanks for putting the note up on your blog!