Ames' Hot Southern Honey and Green Sauce from Chicken Fiesta (Illustration by Lauren Baldwin)
1. Ames’ Hot Southern Honey
$10 per 8-ounce bottle at Tom Leonard’s Farmer’s Market
Drizzle the sweetness of Shenandoah Valley honey mixed with chilies over fried chicken, biscuits, pizza and goat cheese. It pushes ketchup aside as the preferred condiment at The Savory Grain, where it’s on every table.
2. Green Sauce
free with purchase at Chicken Fiesta
It’s only a simple blend of jalapeños and garlic, but this puree gives flash and sparkle to everything. Use it to dress spit-roasted chicken or a steak chalupa salad: The acidic notes in the jalapeños brighten meat and greens especially well.
3. Paletas
$2.99 at La Michoacana
Fruit-flavored ice pops, such as watermelon or mango, get spiked with chilies that don’t so much scorch as throw shade at May’s summery days. Facial sweating induced by a sugar high never hurt (or cooled) so good.
4. Spicy Chicken Huarache
$6 at Taqueria El Tacorrey
Beans and sour cream are but smoke and mirrors when applied to the huarache’s fried masa base, but when unmasked, chile de árbol peppers in the chicken’s red sauce torch. This is the ultimate fill-your-belly dish, best enjoyed on Tacorrey’s remodeled patio.
5. Matt’s Dirty Pickles’ Habanero Bread and Butter
$6 per pint at South of the James Farmers Market
Made in Midlothian, this pickle garnishes Bloody Marys at Tazza Kitchen. One bite of its fiery flesh turns even demure spice fans into heat-seeking missiles; you’ll have to have a jar. You can also find these crisp slices at The Caboose Market in Ashland and at Strangeways Brewing.
