How about an early update, since my updates have been rather sporadic lately, rather than regular? A post at the beginning of the month is certainly a great way to do that! But enough of that...
Health issues aside, I've not had much of a chance to get out and show my passion for chili and chiles recently, since the last chili (Chili with an I, to borrow a phrase) competition I was at was in mid October, and I won't likely get to another one until January at the earliest. This means that I need to find other outlets for my passion for not only chili, but chile (that's Chile with an E) peppers as well.
I follow a number of blogs and websites that talk about the newest things in Chili and Chiles, including Scott Roberts' website, and Dick's Chili World. While I can buy chiles at local stores, and can get all sorts from the web, and I can make chili whenever I want, I've not given enough time to specialty stores such as Pepper Palace, which I ambled into today at Water Tower Place in Chicago, IL. Thusly, this entry will be about that experience.
I've been to enough specialty culinary supply stores in malls to see a nice wall of hot sauces, mild sauces, salsas, and other chile pod creations, usually catering to people who have a desire to collect and show off what they buy rather than to actually take these sauces home and try them out. In addition, in my experience, the staff running such stores may have knowledge about one or two of these sauces, but don't have experience with everything on the wall. When I walked into Pepper Palace today, I wasn't sure what I would find.
First of all, I didn't just find one wall of hot sauces, I found an entire store. In addition, I found O'Neill Ryan and James Conroy: two very knowledgeable and enthusiastic gentlemen who love to talk about chiles until they turn blue in the face, and who are serious about educating their customers about anything you can find in their store.
(O'Neill Ryan (l), and James Conroy (r))
I wandered in (and my partner wandered away) and was greeted by both of these aficionados, who were more than happy to answer any questions about their store, and even more questions about anything in it. I asked them, after having looked at some of their sauces, and having read a few articles on Scott Roberts' site, if they'd heard about the recent buzz about the Carolina Reaper (aka the HP22B Chile Pepper, article here), to which they answered no and began to research it that moment. After some talk about said chile, O'Neill must have deemed me worthy of some level of chile-head-dom (is that even a word?) and took me over to their tasting table, which included all sorts of hot sauces from the tame to the tail-whipping.
We had talked about the Butch Scorpion, which is used in their Scorpion Stinger sauce, and he asked me to get a spoon. Oh boy, I'm in for it. I politely smiled and asked how soon I'd be dying, talking a little more about my research, and he smiled and simply asked me to hand him my spoon. As much as I'd love to say I woke up later in the ER (for shock value), I'm even happier to say that while there was indeed very significant heat to the sauce, the flavour was absolutely wonderful. Through some sweat, hiccups, and a few screwed up faces, the fruity notes of the chiles came out wonderfully, and the bite, while building and powerful, did its job and then let my mouth rest with a lingering memory of its visit.
This led us to talking more about chile peppers, trying more sauces, such as their Chocolate Habañero Sauce, and even talking about festivals such as ZestFest, and local chili cookoffs. I told them both about my involvement in chili cookoffs, and that the next one I was hoping to attend was in Orland Park, the Chilly Willie Challenge Regional. I asked if they'd ever been to any of the local cookoffs, and mentioned how much I'd like to see them at one. I'm hoping that, based on O'Neill's reply, that they can start to come to a few of them as a vendor. They seemed very interested in drumming up some local interest.
All of this being the wonderful experience that it was, I ended up walking out with what they suggested as the best introduction to their line of sauces, their Ghost Pepper Sauce, and a promise to return soon to talk more about chiles, chili, and to try a few different sauces. I can happily say that while they've only been in this store for 8 months, I hope to visit them at least once a month from here on out, especially since I got my partner to finally enter the store with me, and she found something for herself as well!
All in all, I think that in addition to being a Chili Head, I'm becoming more of a Chile Head than I've ever been through meeting O'Neill and James, and through the knowledgeable and friendly service they offer. If you are in Chicago and have a genuine interest in Capsicums, are just getting started in the world of hot sauce, or just want to learn more about sauces in general, stop into their store. You'll not be disappointed.
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