"Hell Night" was a regularly occurring night of spicy food debauchery created by Chris Schlesinger at his Cambridge restaurant, East Coast Grill. Now there is a "Hell Night" pop-up. Chefs Jason Lord of Season to Taste catering and Paul Turano of Cook Restaurants in Newton and Needham joined WGBH News' Henry Santoro to discuss the new venture. The transcript below has been edited for clarity.
Henry Santoro: Jason, you're an East Coast alum, so let's start with you. Please explain what "Hell Night" was.
Jason Lord: So, "Hell Night" was a competition of sorts. There are what we call "chili heads" out there, who like foods super spicy, and they kept saying we couldn't make it hot enough, and we told them we can. So, it turned out to be a bit of a competition. We would gather all the chili heads around, and try to make food that can knock them out, and they would try to eat it.
Santoro: And it became an institution.
Lord: It really did.
Santoro: And the place would be packed, and people would be hyperventilating, and they would be red-faced and nearly passing out, but loving every single bite of the food.
Lord: Absolutely. And we tried to accommodate everybody. So, we had what we called a bomb system, and we would do food that wasn't too spicy, and try to hit every level that we can, because not everybody is as crazy as the craziest chili heads.
Santoro: The first night is sold out, and you've added a second night, which will be October 2, a Wednesday night. Paul, why don't you tell us about this revival?
Paul Turano: Well, Jason I met through a mutual friend, and we just were talking about it and figured this would be a good time to try this again, and bring a little bit more of the city and East Coast Grill back to the suburbs.
Santoro: The people who partook in "Hell Night" at the East Coast Grill probably miss it terribly. And Jason, I'm sure that you're in touch with some of the regulars that were at the East Coast Grill back in the day. Do you hear from them? Do they ask for it to come back?
Lord: There's been a few here and there that have popped up over the last few years. but they're out there, lurking, waiting.
Santoro: Can the two of you explain Scoville units, and the role that they play in creating a spicy dish? This is a lot more than just throwing a massive amount of hot peppers into anything, right?
Lord: So, what we like to do is, and our cardinal rule in the past — and Paul and I are keeping the tradition going — is you can't lose flavor. And we're not going to use extracts, because anybody can go out there and get a bottle of mace or the hottest chili pepper extract in the world and just pour a bottle into a cup of soup, and that's just not fun. So what we do is we're sourcing different types of chilis, all along the levels, and using their flavors to impart in the dishes, so we can do anything from a one or a two bomb dish, which is going to be a jalapeño or a little bit hotter, as far as a scorpion chili which is a million a half Scovilles and up.
Santoro: Let's make a comparison. What is a jalapeño on the Scoville heat scale?
Lord: I believe it's around 6,000-10,000. And then you have habaneros, ghosts, scorpions, Carolina reapers. There are a million, a million and half [Scovilles] and up.
Santoro: And you need to wear gloves when you're working with these peppers, correct?
Lord: Some people do.
Santoro: And those who don't?
Lord: I handle it just fine. But you know what we used to do, is we keep a bucket of milk next to it.
Santoro: It's "Hell Night," never say die, at Cook Restaurant in Needham. It’s hosted by chef Jason Lord and Paul Turano, Wednesday October 2.
