"Duto mo tili?" Says Senyorito Lakwatsero. Then he will take out an imaginary chili from his pocket and put it in our mouths.
It's a rhetorical question. That's what he usually does whenever he hears us utter words which are considered as "bad". Obviously, he is giving us a dose of our own medicine. Some of you could probably relate to this means of discipline as a kid. No, we were never actually given the sili as form of punishment. But just the thought of it was enough to make us behave.
In a country where the love for anything spicy hot is an acquired taste, the sili or chili pepper has gotten itself a reputation. Case in point, our sauces and dips usually has two varieties - plain and spicy. For your pizza, you get ketchup and hot sauce! Unless it's something that is expected to be spicy hot, you'll never get anything spicy. The condiment that will make the dish spicy will be given to you separately. As mentioned earlier, it's an acquired taste. Some people just don't want their food spicy hot.
Driver loves spicy food! For inihaw, she'll make a separate dip for herself where she'll crush all these chilies. For pizza, she'd request for chili flakes. Mayordoma on the other hand, would request the food server at the cafeteria to remove the sili from her sinigang. Yaya can appreciate either.
We agree on a lot of food. It's only when it comes to the spicy hot ones where one of us orders differently. But recently, we discovered a sort of spicy treat that we all love. And it comes in the form of a... (hold your breath)...whole sili! It's the CHILI STICK from Spaghetti House here in San Pablo City. Yes, the same Spaghetti House famous for its nachos and sweet spaghetti.
Right outside the restaurant is an area where the Chili Sticks are sold. You can order and eat it outside like any other street food or you can add it to your other orders when you are dining in the restaurant. Any way, it's still good.
The chili stick is one whole chili (the kind you use for sinigang) with all its seeds removed and stuffed with ground meat. It is dredged in breading then deep fried. Because the seeds are removed, it's no longer that spicy hot but it still has some kick in it. The meat inside is also very tasty (think of their nachos). The sweet sauce that comes with it complements the chili stick perfectly. It's a good thing that it only costs Php10 per stick because we can attest that one is not enough once you've tasted it. We are actually hooked. Please note also that it's availability would be best described as "while supplies last". We went there late last night but they were already out of chili sticks.
Sigh, it was raining hard last night and the chili sticks would have been a good companion for a rather chilly night.
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