Europe Pub (PieFed)US judge dismisses $100,000 suit over spiciness of New York taqueria’s sauce
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/16/judge-d…
A German tourist filed a lawsuit claiming he felt unpleasant symptoms after eating tacos with salsa at Los Tacos No 1
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$20.1 million across three lawsuits. Bro had the wrong visa. He said he was here as a tourist, but clearly he was here on business.
I really hope this doesn’t pressure them to call their salsa “spicy” if it’s not; I already have trust issues with food adjectives because of stuff like this.
CharlesDarwinIKR? I hate it when something is supposed to be spicy but seems to be calibrated for someone that thinks black pepper is spicy.
Definitely. There was a burrito place by me that I used to ask for their hottest sauce and every time I asked for it, they gave me a half squint and said, “are you sure? It’s really spicy.” It was never what I would consider even moderately spicy. I think they were just racially profiling me…which I guess I can’t complain about if that’s the worst way I’ll be racially profiled in life.
pressedhamsI have a similar story. I can handle hot, and seek it out because who doesn’t love endorphins? I asked for their hot salsa, and then asked if they had anything hotter. She brought out this small dish and stood there and watched me eat it and made a derisive grunt before walking away. It was the hottest salsa experienced, I broke out into sweats and then hives. For the next day any mild perspiration caused me to break out into a rash.
It was amazing. 10/10 would recommend.
Haha, I’ve experienced something similar to that. I ordered queso at a taco place and there was a sliced pepper floating on top. My wife doesn’t like spicy food, so I will grab that stuff immediately. It was a little hot, definitely felt a slight burn. A few minutes later, the waitress came out and was looking at the queso, then the tray, then the plates and the floor. She was slightly panicked and said, “did this come out with a pepper on it?!” And then explained that she tells all her guests not to eat the pepper because it’s too spicy and they get a lot of complaints. Definitely way too dramatic for the heat level of that thing.
The trick is to ask them if the spice is scaled for white people or not
“Is there a non-white people extra spicy?” I’ve had to convince waiters at many restaurants that I really mean it. Recent experience - I had the chef come out and double check with me at a new Indian restaurant and I confirmed extra spicy - and he was right, it was pretty tongue melting. Now I usually order spicy unless I’m really in the mood. Sometimes (sadly rare) they mean it!
I remember eating at a Chinese restaurant and ordering something “extra spicy”. The waiter asked, oh, what level? Well, I had eaten there before and didn’t know they had a level, so asked what that meant. He said 1-10, with 10 being spiciest. I said 10 and continued looking at the menu (it’s a rather large one), waiting for the other orders. Then I notice there is a silence and look up.
Waiter is staring at me, concerned. He says “no one has ever said 10!”. After that, others at the table had to change their orders to 10 to try it out, LOL.
After all that, it was spicier than the normal extra spicy I’ve had there, but it was not worth the panic the waiter had. :)
My favorite way of people trying to calibrate things for you in real time is if they ask something like: “do you want that Indian hot, or American hot?”, I take the subtext being, “okay, white guy, let’s make sure you buckle up if you ask for the Indian hot version”. 🤣
In my experience, Indian restaurants can bring the spicy. So can (some) Thai places. They can really turn things up and tear off the knob for pepperheads if they know they can take the bubble-wrap off for you as a customer. :)
I don’t think I’ve ever eaten at a Mexican restaurant that really turned things up, but I think that’s mostly because the peppers they use are rather limited in their upper end. Most of it has been around store-bought “extra hot” salsa level which doesn’t phase me.
It’s always nice to find a Mexican restaurant that makes a serious house habanero salsa, and every once in a while they’re amazing! I went to one restaurant for about a decade when I found their amazing salsa, but at some point they couldn’t import their chef’s preferred peppers anymore and stoped making it.
I’ve had a much easier time finding Indian that can bring the spice - I assume their spice collection is broader than most, but I love when I can find a seriously spicy Thai dish.
Good.
Courts don’t make the right decision fairly regularly here, but occasionally they get one right.
MinnesotaGoddamTongue blisters? Bullshit.
I saw a Houston Jones video where he pretty much took pepper spray to the dome, and said the worst part was the genital burn while showering after. Homie got a fucked up mouth from citric acid more than capsaicin.
I’ve eaten a whole Carolina reaper peppers before and I’ve never noticed anything except the pain
you gotta practice harder those are deliciously sweet.
also there are ointments to help with satan’s eyeball. if you do it right you don’t get any afterburn.
I don’t like sweet stuff. I prefer ghost peppers
see i don’t have a good source of hot peppers. i want a nice salsa with a mix of the sweet carolina reapers and the earthy ghost peppers.
my mild salsa uses pasillas and anaheims (if i’m sharing) or habaneros (if i’m not) to give an example.
Nice. I’m a pepper grower. Mostly ghost, but I’ll grow anything My local nursery sells that’s hot
i want to grow peppers but, alas, i have the black thumb. my wife is great in the garden tho. she does not want to grow peppers so every few years i get a habanero bush as a little present.
Is this a publicity stunt or something? A grift? Surely it’s not actually some dumbass who genuinely thought they could get $100k after voluntarily triggering a stomach ache.
He was visiting the states and wanted the authentic experience of suing anyone you feel like
🙄 One of those guys.
He really did: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/14/nyregion/german-tourist-new-york-lawsuit-walmart-nypd.html
After he took the first bite and tasted how spicy it was, instead of spitting it out he thought to himself “its amazing how they got this food to taste spicy without it actually being spicy” and continued to eat all three tacos
There’s legit some hot sauces that are a slow burn. Takes a minute to get to full force…by which time it is FAR too late to spit it out…. guy’s still a numpty. Just pointing out I’ve gotten myself in too deep. Only difference is I said “Yeah, probably should have asked what everything was.” Not “Imma sue a motherfucker!”
I always feel like it’s been three or so bites before you realize that you’ve made a mistake.
Honestly, I want the taco salsa that makes Germans litigious. The restaurant should sell shirts or something.
Definitely. By the time I realised that a tactical error was made I’ve usually smashed the first taco, and am part way through the second.
I would absolutely smother several tacos in lawsuit sauce, and if that shop isn’t capitalising this….idfk if they deserve to run a shop anymore.
NEEW YORK CITYYYY!
I’m gonna go to Oktoberfest and say the smell of beer made me nauseous.
“I had no idea it had alcohol in jt!”
“I kept drinking and drinking, but it just made me feel worse.”
“There should be a warning label!”
No matter whether it’s labeled or not, you don’t start ladling on the salsa until you’ve tasted it first. What a maroon.
Applies to pretty much every any food topping! What are you doing adding mystery sauce to your meal??
What kind of dipshit just starts loading random unmarked sauce onto his food at a mexican/indian/korean/thai restaurant? Especially if you don’t like the heat.
I guess you’d develop the tolerance after doing that mistake once.
Oh. I thought the lawsuit was gonna be because it wasn’t hot enough. Some of these places serve spaghetti sauce as salsa. Which is fine. Adapting to local preferences and stuff.