Restaurant Review: Hell Night @ East Coast Grill

When I deduced that the next Mystery Meet was going to be Hell Night, I was ALL over that. I had been wanting to go to Hell Night ever since I had first heard of it. Unfortunately, my husband is not a spice maniac like I am, and my Dad lives in Central Mass and cannot get out here on a weeknight. I knew from the first clue that it was Hell Night @ East Coast Grill:

“If you can’t take the heat, get your ass outta the kitchen.”

 

I thought to myself, The next Mystery Meet is HELL NIGHT?!?!?! HELL YEAH!!

What other restaurant makes you sign a waiver beforehand?

In case you aren’t familiar with Hell Night, their menu is all spicy, all the time. The more “bombs” on a dish, the spicier it is. I believe the “bombs” go up to either 8 or 9. Their most famous dish is the Spaghetti, and unfortunately it was not included on the Hell Night menu. Oh well, that just means I need to come back again!

As you can see there are a lot of bombs on that menu. The appetizers were family style, which was great, as it gave us a chance to sample a lot of the menu. We then had a choice of two entrees, and then one dessert. The only dish on the menu that was not spicy was the dessert.

We started out with the Russian Roulette Style Spicy Meatball Challenge with Angry Tomato Sauce (2 bombs to 8 bombs). What happens is that everyone takes a meatball, and they all vary in spice, and one lucky (unlucky?) person gets the hottest (8 bombs) meatball. There was some argument on who had the spiciest meatball, and if I had to guess, I would give mine a 4-5 bombs. The spiciness settles at the back of your throat and stays there. I went through 6 glasses of water that night (Our table went balls out and did NOT get any milk), and this tiny meatball made me go through at least one glass.

The second dish, the Smokin’ Hot Pork Spare Ribs with Guava Lava Glaze and Inner Beauty Hot Sauce (3 bombs) were waaaaaaay spicier than the meatballs. This spice stayed right at the front of your mouth, numbing my lips and causing some of us to break out in a sweat. The meat was tender and the sauce was delicious, but MAN they were HOTT!

Next came the Wings of Mass Destruction “Phuket Style” with Ghost Chile Oil, Aromatic Herbs, and Nuoc Cham (7 bombs. I was most excited and most fearful of this dish. I had never before had Ghost Chili before, and if you weren’t aware, Ghost Chili is the spiciest chili pepper on the planet. ON THE PLANET. And I voluntarily ate it (I have the waiver to prove it).

 

You can SEE the glistening ghost chili oil

Looking at it on my plate I was shivering in fear of these wings. I very gently pulled away the meat and ate it.

It burned.

Slowly.

And it didn’t go away for at least 20 minutes.

Surprisingly enough I didn’t sweat or shed any tears. I actually found myself shivering for most of the night. So explain THAT one. I remember the chicken being tender and actually quite tasty. But I think I was more worried if I was ever going to return to normal ever again.

The last appetizer that we had was the Korean Fried Chicken Thigh with Apple Kim Chi and Super Charged Kojuchang (4 bombs). This thankfully was actually not very spicy, so I was surprised by the 4 bomb designation. It was actually very hot temperature wise, and my mouth was still feeling the affects of the chicken wings so I couldn’t eat them for a good 10 minutes. The chicken was tender and the sauce was pretty good.

For my entree I of course went with the spicier meal, Jamaican Jerk Grilled Pork Chop with Banana Guava Ketchup, Real Inner Beauty Hot Sauce, Curried Sweet Mashed Potatoes, and Cumin Seared Greens (6 bombs). The sauce is what REALLY made this dish spicy but there was a nice spicy crunch on the pork chop. The sweet potatoes and the greens were not spicy either, but still very good.

Last but not least came dessert. It was a perfect ending to Hell Night. The Mango-Berry Crisp with Fresh Whipped Cream and Vanilla Ice Cream was not spicy, and it definitely cooled whatever spice was left in my mouth.

So the verdict? At the beginning of the night (right around the time of the Chicken Wings) I was telling myself that I would only do this once. By the end of the meal I thought, Well this isn’t so bad. I just finished retelling my tale to my Dad and he asked me when the next Hell Night was and that he wanted to go. Well then. See you at the next Hell Night!