Chicken with Explosive Pepper

Last night, Mary, Sam and I had an early family birthday dinner in SF, because Sam has a birthday sleepover tonight. And we got the above dish: Chicken with Explosive Pepper.  Yes, that is a GIANT plate full of peppers that you have to treasure-search though for chunks of delicious fried chicken.

I have a great job. I regularly meet people from all over the world and get to interact with them in meaningful ways.  One of the surprising things I've learned is that many of our Chinese students have trouble finding authentic Chinese food experiences in SF, they head down to L.A. for it.  (I know, right?  As a stupid American - I thought SF had it.) However, one of my students mentioned that she had recently gone to the Szechuan Z & Y Restaurant in Chinatown and it reminded her very much of home.  She brought some dishes to class, the one above and a Couple's Delight.  Being Szechuan all the dishes we got had a "numbing spice" to them.

YUM. Being adopted Cajun, I'm a big fan of authentically-used spice.  Most Cajun food outside of Acadiana tends to have a fake-level of spicing to it, like they are doing it for effect rather than flavor. Authenticity found.

#iheartsf