Eat at Your Own Risk

There's only one thing that warrants more than a 3 chili pepper rating on the menu at Pam Real Thai, and that's the catfish rated 5 chilis! (Like, this one goes to 11.) So naturally, I had to order it. Sorry I can't provide the Thai name, but it's not on their take-out menu (in fact they don't put anything rated more than 2 chilis). When I ordered it, the waiter said, "This you can't send back." It took me a while to realize what he was talking about. "Very spicy, can't send back." Oh, of course not! -- I assured him.

It certainly was hot, but delightfully, not painfully, so. The fish was fine, the mini eggplants retained more of the spiciness soaked in, but Thai spice never has the lingering burn -- just a pleasant wakes-you-up-and-clears-your-sinuses tingle. Definitely not "inedible-send-it-back" hot, and by far not the hottest thing I've had this year (that would be Prince's Hot Chicken in Nashville). The moral is, as 1000yregg so aptly writes in our intro, don't let the waiters scare you -- "eat without fear or prejudice."