-3

I visited a Pizza place(Pieology) that had "Spicy Chicken" on the menu as a topping. I figured it would be similar to spicy sausage and have some type of red pepper added for a bit of heat. Rather it was actually buffalo chicken flavored spicy chicken based on red sauce vinegar of some kind.

What should one expect when a menu has "spicy chicken" as a pizza topping?

dpollitt
  • 1,726
  • 6
  • 22
  • 39
  • To me it would depend a lot on the ethnicity of the restaurant. "Pizza" can mean Italian or all-American, depending on the joint. If the place is all-American, then I would expect "spicy chicken" to be Buffalo. If the restaurant was anything *but* all-American, I would expect "spicy chicken" to be other than Buffalo, as Buffalo Chicken is a uniquely American dish. – Jolenealaska Feb 21 '15 at 19:17
  • Interesting thoughts Joleneaska. The pizza shop is "Pieology" and is based in California. They are essentially a "Chipotle" style Pizza Hut to give a quick summary. – dpollitt Feb 21 '15 at 19:19
  • That sounds very all-American to me, not Italian, not Mexican. – Jolenealaska Feb 21 '15 at 19:20
  • Are you talking about spicy chicken appearing on the menu as a separate dish or as a pizza topping? – Ross Ridge Feb 21 '15 at 19:45
  • Ross - It is "Build your own pizza place". They had spicy chicken as a topping option. The question is, what would expect this topping to be? – dpollitt Feb 21 '15 at 19:46
  • Are you sure it's buffalo sauce and not just some generic hot sauce? It could be Mexican (fairly likely in California), or Jamaican, even Mediterranean or SE Asian - hot sauce is really pretty ubiquitous, and red is a common color. – Aaronut Feb 21 '15 at 20:04
  • Aaronut - The chicken was quite red like it had tabasco or some other hot sauce on it. I have no idea what it actually was but after I looked at the ingredient that they were about to top my pizza with I knew it wasn't what I expected just simply because of the color and the fact that it was saucy and not a dry ingredient. Note that the pizza place is not very Mexican at all I would say, just based out of California. – dpollitt Feb 21 '15 at 20:07
  • Their online menu does have Smokin' Buffalo Chicken pizza on the menu so it's not that surprising that their spicy chicken topping uses a Buffalo wing style sauce, whether that's normal in a pizza topping or not. From the description of that item though there's a chance that the sauce is a late addition and you could ask for spicy chicken topping without it. – Ross Ridge Feb 21 '15 at 20:23
  • Ross - The ingredients are in a line presented to the customer and the chicken is "pre-sauced" at the time of presentation. I hear you on the additional menu item, I just wasn't searching the other menu items to determine what this one might be! – dpollitt Feb 21 '15 at 20:27
  • 1
    I didn't down vote your question, but your question does seem mostly pointless. Aside from the fact there easily could be different expectations around the world, around the US or even the same city, what does it matter? It's too late to complain that you didn't get the pizza you were expecting. – Ross Ridge Feb 21 '15 at 20:35
  • I would've thought your experience would've taught you to ask either way. Admittedly it took me twice ordering "Coke" and getting Pepsi instead before I learned to ask, but it's not like you can expect "spicy chicken" to meet some legal definition. – Ross Ridge Feb 21 '15 at 20:56

1 Answers1

2

As some of the comments suggest, "spicy chicken" isn't really specific enough to mean much of anything.

You might be able to make guesses based on where you are. Heavily Italian places indeed might do something like hot Italian sausage, certainly. But if there's a variety of cuisine in your area, who knows. There's a Desi pizza place near me that puts tandoori chicken on pizza. Or it could just be someone's secret recipe! If you care about the exact flavor it's probably best to just ask.

Cascabel
  • 58,065
  • 24
  • 178
  • 319
  • Yeah I've certainly had lots of unique toppings but this place really isn't pushing any boundaries. "Pizza" should always be rooted in Italian cuisine to me, so any type of chicken that wouldn't be used in Italian cuisine should be explained as such. Thanks for your input. – dpollitt Feb 21 '15 at 20:25
  • 1
    @dpollitt I see - I guess I've had enough pizza beyond traditional Italian that it's not really surprising to me. – Cascabel Feb 21 '15 at 20:31
  • If we are talking California style pizza, we are far from Italian influences. Heck, many California style pizzas are far from "American" style pizza, even. There's opportunity for a joke here about how the rest of America doesn't really "claim" California but I'll leave that for somebody less sleep deprived than I. – Preston Feb 23 '15 at 06:55
  • I've had pizza only in Asia for the last decade. Regional differences in pizza toppings are huge. Spicy chicken where I am could mean spicy curried chicken, tandoori chicken, chicken in a chilli sauce, or, really, any of a dozen different things. Nothing would surprise me any more. – LMAshton Mar 04 '15 at 09:56