Restaurant: Bajo Sexto Taco, Nashville

Favorite Fiery Ingredients: Habanero, Pequin

Favorite Fiery Dishes:
• Wild Mushroom Ceviche, Avocado Salsa and Habanero
• Octopus Ceviche with Salsa de Chile de Árbol (pictured)
• Sopa de Huachinango, Snapper Guajillo broth, Corn Calabazitas, Serranos

Born and raised in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, Trilling is an authority on chilies and spices. His favorite ingredients deliver heat and flavor in equal measure and remind him a little bit of his childhood.

“My mom started her cooking school in our home, so I grew up surrounded by all sorts of chilies, salsas and moles,” says Trilling. “I love to use habaneros. They’re spicy, but really fruity, too. They command respect. And if you know how to use habanero properly, it can complement lots of other flavors and make a dish complex,” he says.

“Our Sopa de Huachinango is one that I really enjoy because it features serranos, which are very cleansing for the palate. It’s inspired by my time in Houston when I worked with Hugo Ortega. I wanted to do something that referenced where I grew up—snapper is one of the most widely used Mexican fish—but that was also refreshing and flavorful.”

Once reserved for thrill-seekers and chili-heads, fiery foods have officially gone mainstream. According to market research firm Datassential, chefs are hardwired to look for new and interesting ingredients to elevate their cuisine. “Chilies offer the perfect playground. There are many varieties with vastly different flavor profiles from all corners of the globe,” says Datassential’s Colleen McClellan.

Very specific ethnic peppers are being used in non-traditional ways, like as a garnish or an accent point, she says. “Peppers like the Calabrian chili, ghost pepper, and shishito peppers are seeing triple-digit growth over a four-year period. The habanero pepper has seen 90 percent growth in only the past year.”

In addition to peppers, chefs are also turning to hot sauces to spice up menus. Gochujang, for example, has experienced triple-digit growth since last year.

For a fiery dish to work, though, it must be balanced. Heat for the sake of heat is rarely a recipe for success. So, as chefs look at temperature-pushing possibilities, many are drawing inspiration from personal experiences.

Restaurant: Izakaya, Houston

Favorite Fiery Ingredients: Serranos, Habaneros, Dragon Fingers

Favorite Fiery Dish: Chicken Fried Steak (pictured)

Izakaya is Houston’s first Japanese gastropub with a menu of global street foods. Spicy ingredients are woven into an array of dishes from Pork Belly & Shishito Peppers to Chicken Fried Steak.

“Before we opened Izakaya, the owner asked us to develop one classic Southern dish for the menu,” says Gaston. “Whoever made the best chicken fried steak with all Asian components would have the dish credited to them on the menu. Four of us competed, but it was the version by Teddy Lopez that stood out the most and had the most Southern style to it.

“His steak is breaded in dehydrated shiitake mushroom flour, sided by kimchee-braised collard greens, topped with silken tofu gravy and garnished with pickled daikon and fried shishito peppers.”

Restaurant: China Poblano, Las Vegas

Favorite Fiery Ingredient: Pequin

Favorite Fiery Drinks: Media Naranja; Blood Orange Chile Pequin Margarita (pictured)

Vegas’ China Poblano is a sleek and stylish restaurant that captures José Andrés’ personal take on the thriving street food cultures of China and Mexico. Needless to say, heat plays a pivotal role on the menu—especially at the bar. Two standout spicy cocktails, developed by g.m. Danmy Nguyen, are hot with customers.

“Over the last few years, spicy cocktails have found a niche,” says Nguyen. “The spicy margarita, in particular, is almost a classic.” China Poblano’s is served on the rocks and made with tequila blanco, shaken with a blood orange puree and dried chili pequin.

“Another spicy drink we serve, called the Media Naranja, is shaken vigorously and served up. It’s made with mescal, a house made sour orange-habenero syrup [which is a mix of fresh pressed orange, grapefruit and lime simmered with habanero peppers] and egg white for a slight froth on the head of the cocktail. It’s finished with bitters. When you sip it, it’s smoky, spicy and sweet,” says Nguyen.

Restaurant: Tanta, Chicago

Favorite Fiery Ingredients: Rocoto pepper

Favorite Fiery Dish: Cebiche Mixto (pictured) made with a selection of fresh fish, calamari, shrimp, rocoto pepper, lime juice, cilantro, choclo (Peruvian corn) and sweet potatoes

The best way to learn about a place is through its food. And Jesus Delgado offers Chicagoans a colorful culinary trip through Peru with Tanta’s menu of shareable plates.

“I enjoy creating dishes that remind me of my childhood and truly showcase Peruvian culture,” says Delgado. “Peruvians share spicy flavors with children at a very early age. I started serving my son spicy cebiche when he was six months old.”

His favorite dish—Cebiche Mixto—is a Peruvian classic. “The more you can include in a cebiche dish, the better. That’s why this dish is one of my top favorites because it has a variety of flavors and ingredients compared to a classic cebiche recipe,” says Delgado. “I also love the touch of rocoto pepper, which adds the perfect amount of heat.”

Restaurant: Filament, Dallas

Favorite Fiery Ingredient: Fresno Chilies

Favorite Fiery Dish: Fried “Hot” Catfish (pictured); Hot Sauce

Like many chefs, Cody Sharp went through a spicy phase during which he experimented with different types of chilies to find enjoyable levels of pain in a variety of applications. This inspired a series of temperature-pushing dishes on the menu at Filament, including a riff on the traditional Nashville-style hot chicken.

“Before Filament opened in December, the team and I took a road trip through the South eating our way around towns like Nashville,” says Sharp. “It seemed like everyone had hot chicken on the menu. So we decided to come up with our own version.

“Instead of chicken we use catfish. I grew up eating catfish, and I wanted to put my twist on it—and it worked remarkably well.

“We dredge the catfish in cornmeal and make it the same way you would a traditional hot chicken. The end result has a burn that’s addictive—it gets hotter if you stop, so you just keep eating.

“We also make all of our own barrel-aged hot sauces in-house. We start with Fresno chilies and ferment them for three months. We then blend them with sugar and vinegar and dump them into a whiskey barrel. The char adds a ton of flavor to the final product.”

Restaurant: Roofers Union, Washington DC

Favorite Fiery Ingredients: Fresnos, Serannos

Favorite Fiery Dish: Fried Chicken Thigh Sandwich (pictured): Honey Sriracha, Lettuce, Mayonaise, Ciabatta

Marjorie Meek-Bradley is the brains behind the hugely popular—and moderately spicy—fried chicken sandwich at Roofers Union.

“I became chef at Ripple three years ago,” says Meek-Bradley. “Eight months after I started, we began working on the menu for Roofers Union. Well, the day after Cochon 555, I was beyond hungover and the only thing I was good for was making a family meal. We had Amish chicken on the menu and I had extra thighs, so I breaded them, fried them and tossed them in a honey sriracha that we usually use for wings. I put it on some fresh-baked ciabatta, smeared it with mayo and served it. Everyone went wild. And we agreed that it had to go on the menu at Roofers Union.

“It’s one of those dishes that hits all the right notes—you have this warm, juicy chicken with a good crunch that perfectly balances sweet and spicy.”

Restaurant: Sunda, Chicago

Favorite Fiery ingredients: Ghost Peppers, Gochujang

Favorite Fiery Dishes:
• Gambler Futomaki (spicy tuna, spicy shrimp, masago, cucumber, scallion, kanpyo, avocado, rayu, sambal, ghost pepper)
• Panang chicken (pictured)

Sunda takes classic Asian cuisine and reimagines it with a modern approach. There is plenty of heat on the menu, but chef/partner Jess DeGuzman’s favorites are the ones that are the direct result of teamwork.

“Our Panang Chicken is a good example. One of my sous chefs brought the idea to me and we worked together to tweak it a little until it was perfect.”

It has coconut milk, panang curry, chilies, bamboo shoots, basil, mint and cilantro. It’s served in a coconut and the milk really balances out the heat.

“We thought our gambler roll would be too spicy for most customers but they came back asking for it to be hotter. It has sambal and ghost chilies and it’s really intense,” he says. “We call it the gambler because each piece has sambal in it, but only one piece has ghost pepper.”

Restaurant: The Bombay Club, Washington DC (Knightsbridge Restaurant Group)

Favorite Fiery Ingredient: Green Chili

Favorite Fiery Dishes: Chicken Tikka Hariyali; Lamb Vindaloo

Pictured: Spicy mushroom kofta

Born in New Delhi, India, Ashok Bajaj, who has owned and operated award-winning restaurants in London and the United States for over 25 years, doesn’t actually like very spicy foods. For him, it’s all about balance.

“Heat is subjective,” says Bajaj. “The way I experience spice is completely different from how you experience spice. I don’t like dishes that burn your palate the moment you eat them.

“Growing up, my mother liked spicy foods, but my father did not. I learned from her how to use chilies to enhance flavor. They add complexity and give a glow that can’t be replicated. As I began to experience other types of cuisine, I was able to see how other cultures use chilies and find ways to fuse the different styles to add flavor without fire.

“When we develop dishes at The Bombay Club and other restaurants through our group, we adjust the heat based on our our guests’ preferences. If they want it hot, we’ll make it hot. If they don’t, we won’t.”