some like it hot

[the_siobhan]

The guy who runs the grill in the cafeteria at work is a cheeky elf of a man named Danny. The only reason I know his name is because his feature dish every Wednesday is "Danny's Crazy Chicken". It's basically breaded chicken cooked with a tomato-based sauce and served on top of a ceaser salad. There are actually two sauces, the basic one and a hot sauce he adds depending on how spicy you want it. And the hottest level he makes is "challenge".

Every time somebody new comes up to the counter he holds up the dipper full of sauce and says, "Challenge?" with a big grin on his face. I said yes the first time, and now every time he sees me waiting in line he points me out and yells "She'll have the challenge! I know she will!" Everybody turns around to grin at me and I never want to say no to him because he gets so excited.

And the challenge is hot. I swear today he made it even hotter than usual, pouring spoonfuls of garlic and chilis into the pan. People in the line started coughing as the pepper smoke from the cooking chicken filled the cafeteria.

So I ate it. And now I'm sitting here with tears running down my cheeks and blowing my nose over and over again. My Indian and Guyanese co-workers keep looking over the cubicle walls and laughing at me and asking me how it was.

It was delicious.

Comments

[greylock]

a cheeky elf of a man named Danny.

Does he write music? ")

People in the line started coughing as the pepper smoke from the cooking chicken filled the cafeteria.

Sans the salad, that dish sounds a lot like the chicken with Pele Sauce (yes, I had to look it up) I had at a Hawaiian place we have here. Delicious. And now I know what I want to make next week when I have some chicken.


I am also pleased to know that there are still workplaces with cafeterias where they make fresh food. I thought they were lost in the 1970s.

[the_siobhan]

Our cafeteria is kind of weird, it has several "stations" with different kinds of food and most of it is typical pre-made mass cooked fare. But there is a grill station where they will cook the meat portion of the food for you while you wait. It has to be something that cooks fast though, people have only 30 minutes for lunch and there are have no options.